Dragonball Destiny
by Quick Zero
Summary: At an academy of martial arts, where students are educated on fighting techniques, equipment, as well as the art of combat itself, a certain young student discovers a secret that will give him the power to protect those he loves from an old enemy.
1. Chapter 1

DragonBall Destiny: This is my own little version of the series Dbz. This is in an alternate universe, so ignore everything that happened in the series. It doesn't apply here. I did take some ideas, but you'll know what I mean once you read it.

Disclaimer: I don't claim any of the ideas, like Sayjins and other things, to be mine. They belong to the people in Japan, and Funimation. Akira Toriyama, blah whatever. Only the characters not from the series are mine. So don't steal them!

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I stood loosely at attention waiting for his attack while I wondered how long it would take for me to come out the winner again. I looked at his eyes while cautiously reading his attacks from the middle of his body. His weight shifted up and backwards; in the time his slow movements were finished I could've been home; I smirked and flexed my front fist as he lifted his back leg falling right into my predictions. Reacting with exceptional timing, I extended my arm and struck the back of his knee bending his leg around my arm and I threw him across the ground for about 5 feet. He got up roughed up a little bit and smiled like he was enjoying what he knew was going to turn into a massacre with him on the losing side. He came at me again; I had to be careful, as his wild movements were dangerous if I misread them. Leaning back to give myself additional time, I saw his waist twist to face the right. Focusing my attention on his shoulders I blocked the wide hook easily. He came back, and his stomach turned back to the left and outside to the right again. Reacting smoothly I leaned back missing the follow-up hook. Then as he twisted back right, I caught his temple-aimed-backhand. Rotating my arm to the outside of his elbow, he yelled in pain as I twisted it to the right. I continued the clock-wise movement and kicked him in the ribs, hard, slamming him to the ground motionless. Deciding to end the fight quickly, I move in swiftly aiming a kick towards his throat, but I pull up short when a woman intervens bravely. I look at her with a raised eyebrow on my face, curiosity plainly visible. She was panting hard, clearly angry at my seeming ruthlessness. She was small in the most general terms, weighed about 115 pounds in my eyes. She was about 5'4", with silky silver hair; she also had creamy chocolate skin, and hazel eyes. She looked mixed with Puerto Rican and African American, her extremely well shaped body discouraged any follow up attack on the broken man she was protecting.

"What are you doing?" she screamed at me.

I was shocked at her voice, it was light, and almost carried a singing tone to it, which intoxicated me.

"Answer me!" she reached a sharp note that took me out of my reverie.

"It would seem to me," I almost smirked. "That if you didn't know the answer to your foolish question, you probably would have let me snap his neck into more pieces than most people have the time to count."

Her eyes narrowed and she balled her fists with a barely audible growl.

"If it's any consolation, this is his fault. He crossed the wrong fighter."

"What?"

"Just let him know that he should never come between me and my goal for any extended period next time. And he'll walk home next time." I turned to leave but she grabbed my arm with fiery determination burning in her eyes.

"And who says you'll be able to walk home yourself!" she seemed to be speaking more to herself than to me. This clued me in that she had seen me fight.

"Well, I was actually planning on flying home," I laugh to myself.

"This isn't some kind of joke!" she continued to delay her inevitable attack. I watched her waist carefully, for any signs of attack, while I looked at her beautiful flaming eyes.

"I'm dead serious."

She growled, a sound completely unsuited for her vocal cords, and struck at me, with a serpent-like stinging quickness. The first hit I completely missed, but I just knew that it snapped my head back. I shook my head and focused, she'd made herself another target for me, and I wouldn't get lost scanning her body like I'd just done. She twisted around with a follow up hook kick, and I leaned back, reluctant to hit her with the uppercut I knew she'd left herself open for. Knowing my instincts would soon takeover, and I could possibly kill her because of her sloppy techniques; I folded my hands behind my back. Taking a small step backwards with my left foot, I waited for her next move. She twisted her hips to the left and swung a wide left hook. Smirking, I ducked under her hook and leaned past her, a difficult task for someone 6', ending up half behind her. Leaving my left foot in front of hers, I wrapped my left elbow across her back and flipped her over my back leg, landing her on the ground face first. She yelped at the contact from the hard asphalt. She got up, as rain began to pour over us, and began another pointless assault.

"You know," I went on the defensive avoiding every one of her blows effortlessly. "It would be much easier for me to apologize if you'd let up."

She stopped breathless, and looked up at me, soaked to the skin.

"Apologize?"

"You think if I knew you'd get mad at me for annihilating him, I would've done it?" I smirked.

"I have no idea who you are."

"Déshawn, Jackson." I held out my hand.

She ignored it brusquely, "Ayana."

"Ayana what?"

"Don't worry about it."

"You're Ethiopian?" I raised an eyebrow, trying not to get distracted again.

"Never been there though…" she seemed to regret it greatly.

"But the name suits you." I say.

"You think?" she smiled at me. Then realizing what she was doing, quickly wiped it off.

"What special interest does this near corpse hold for you?"

"He's my brother." I raise an eyebrow at her "brother" who was much lighter in shade than herself. "Step-brother."

"In that case," I couldn't believe what I was about to do. No other girl would've stopped me from killing an opponent for even this long. "I'll cut Jimi loose this time. Just tell him to never square up with me again unless he is ready to die."

She stared at me hard, "and what do you gain from his death?"

"One less knife in my back to worry about," I turned around slowly and began to walk off.

"It's Jimiyu."

I turned around slowly, and looked at her inscrutable face.

"His real name is Jimiyu."

"Thank you, no matter how uninterested in his name I was." I didn't want to leave quite yet. Her hair intrigued me, knowing she was Ethiopian made me wonder about her silver hair. "I promise to not kill him, as long as he doesn't push me to, if you tell me why your hair is silver."

She looked appalled at me for a second, then looked almost grateful at my offer to garuntee his life. She started to talk but stopped for a second and seemed to think hard. "My story is long and tramautizing, so I don't think you need to know that."

I shrugged and was about to lift off when she finished, "yet."

I looked at her, and she was biting her lip, seemingly anxious. The rain sort of lightened up to a, almost pleasant, drizzle.

"Well then, I guess I have an incentive to keep up with you then."

Turning, I decided to walk off instead of flying, leaving her behind me. However, I made sure I could recognize her extremely weak ki, wherever I wanted to.


	2. Chapter 2

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Turning, I decided to walk off instead of flying, leaving her behind me. However, I made sure I could recognize her extremely weak ki, wherever I wanted to.

As soon as I was out of her eyesight, I lifted off towards the dark sky.

The man was large, with a red scar across his right eye, and a wicked grin. He moved with a manner that showed absolute purpose, which could not be impeded. I looked at my broken father, he lay coughing up blood, and I was unable to hide my shock, as he was the strongest man I've ever known. He was ripped with almost pure muscle, and his body showed the natural weathering of being such a powerful fighter being constantly in a battle. The man abusing my father was large; in the most simple of terms, he was just towering, and wide. He was about 8'5" and seemed to be 500 lbs of pure muscle, and he was amazingly explosive. On his hands and knees I saw my father spitting up unscrupulous amounts red liquid, and I saw the large man grin; he took off his knee poised to break my father in two.

"NOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOO!" I sat up panting, and sweating.

Out of breath I looked around, having awoken myself simply because my psyche didn't want to relive the horrifying moments of my fathers death. Shaking my head, I cleared out the cobwebs and, peeling the covers off, I got out of bed. I peeked my head out of the bedroom door, and checked to see if my roommate was still asleep. But, he seemed to have been long awake; this seemed to comfort me for some unknown reason. At the academy on Earth they tried to team up fighters who had offsetting advantages; in my case, my roommate was the powerful one, but I was far too fast for him.

Ever since Earth had gained 2-way access to different galaxies and universes from space travel technologies becoming so advanced, an academy that trained young people, who were willing, to defend themselves against the aliens' unique abilities. A man named Krillin was responsible for starting the line of fighters that were able to equal and surpass the aliens' in their abilities.

Janiko wasn't a typical fighter type however, as he understood, and helped me in every aspect he could manage; and I sometimes felt I should repay him, while also feeling I could never help him as much as he had helped me. I went out and sat on the floor in front of him, crossing my ankles and holding my knees by wrapping my arms around them, while he sat on the couch elbows on his knees, hand clasped with his index fingers holding his chin. He was in a half-meditative state, but slightly opened an eye when he sensed me walk into the room.

"It's 1:30," Janiko advised me.

"It was about my dad this time," I told him.

"I know that it's particularly hard to sleep when you have these dreams, but you know," I cut him off.

"I just can't let them play through. I'll find him in the physical world; without dreams." I added pointedly.

"Where do you plan on starting?" he raised an eyebrow.

I sighed hopelessly and, knowing he was right, I decide on a new subject. "Do you know a girl named Ayana?"

"She's one of the higher ranked fighters here, I'm surprised you don't know her." He sounded slightly interested in my question. "You usually know these things. Why?"

"I fought her last night."

"Hmm, so I'm guessing you beat Jimi."

"He seemed distracted," I modestly defended him. "But he seems so determined to see me dead."

"And about Ayana?"

"She is his step-sister. And apparently the two of them are close, because she was ready to die for him."

"You didn't-?"

"No, I kept my hands behind my back. I know I have problems restraining myself."

He let out, what seemed like a tense breath. "You know, I've been dating her?"

This made my mind reel. "W-w-whoa-wait, how long?"

He gave a light smile, "not that long. Since you told me you knew her actually."

"You always gotta play like that?" the right corner of my mouth curled into a smirk.

"I just wanted to know if you liked her."

"I doubt it, she's related to Jimi." I got up and walked to the window feeling Niko's eyes on my back.

"You've known her for about an hour, she can't help her blood." Janiko's voice resembled an elder's.

"What's her rank and style?" I asked changing the subject.

"Don't quite know, you want to go check the notice board?" he asked getting up to his feet.

In the academy you are ranked according to general win-loss-draw record, power level, techniques and experience. Also you are given a style name that describes how you generally fight. Checking somebody's rank and style is just to make sure you don't end up matched up against a fighter beyond your level too much, of course it is your choice.

Upon reaching the notice board I hear the sound of footsteps on the right, spinning quickly I notice nothing. Looking back at the board I look through the rankings.

The top read: "You aren't ranked individually; you're divided into different classes also. The highest class being Supreme, then, going down, Elite, Upper, Middle, Lower, and Starters are the lowest."

Janiko and me are ranked in the lower parts of the Upper Class having just made it recently. Looking along the list I spot Ayana in the middle of the Upper ranks.

"You know, I've been trying the longest to get my ranking higher, but it seems I've got to fight more rather than train myself," I heard a soft voice behind me announce without introduction. "So seeing as how tomorrow is a weekend, the arena's are open for ranked fights."

I raised an eyebrow at Ayana, who seemed to be building up the nerve to challenge me, "I know, I was hoping to fight my way to the middle of the Upper class tomorrow."

"Well, defeating me would get you there…" Ayana paused. "Of course if I win, I'd be 1 fight away from the Elite class.

"So it seems we've arrived at a solution," Janiko says abruptly. "Tomorrow you two will fight for rank, I'll sign the pair of you up now." He turns and walks away leaving me alone in Ayana's company.

"You know," Ayana looks interestedly at me as soon as Janiko had left. "Everyone says you're cold-hearted. One person even told me you had ice in your veins."

"Who? I'll be sure to kill them at my next opportune moment," I answer blindly without the slightest hint of humor or actual intent.

"But," she continues ignoring my comments thoroughly; "I think I saw compassion in you tonight."

"What you saw, was abrupt, blind, and foolish infatuation, which won't delay me again," I say coolly and started to walk around her back towards my room.

"So tell me," she pursues me; in what she must have thought was a sly tone, after I'd passed her. "Why did you keep your hands behind your back? If not from compassion."

I stopped for a second. Without looking back, I answered, "I went out there to kill one person tonight. Overstepping my quota is an unforgivable sin in my book. And you were close to sending me to hell."

Taking her silence as the end of our conversation, I walked up into the room and met Janiko outside the room waiting for me.

"You know, pushing her away before getting to know her, doesn't seem to be helping your reputation." Janiko advises.

"She's like everyone else to me. She makes assumptions about me based on hear-say, and what's worse, she tells me her beliefs are against the other 99.9 of this schools view of me." I say brusquely.

"So she just annoys you?" Janiko raises an eyebrow.

"A lot," I say walking in.

"You know, your blind ignorance, and theories that you know what's truly going on around you annoy me. You see your personal circle of friends and interactions as the world." Janiko says from the door as I go into my bedroom.

"Good night," I wave to him over my shoulder and plop down on my bed.


	3. Chapter 3

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"So she just annoys you?" Janiko raises an eyebrow.

"A lot," I say walking in.

"You know, your blind ignorance, and assumption that you know what's truly going on around you annoy me. You see your personal circle of friends and interactions as the world." Janiko says from the door as I go into my bedroom.

"Good night," I wave to him over my shoulder and plop down on my bed.

My sleep was restless, as the moment I sensed an impeding dream that involved battle, my subconscious yanked me awake before it even began. And although consciously I knew it was the only clue I had to find the man who killed my father, subconsciously I wasn't mentally strong enough to relive my fathers horrifying and traumatizing death while looking for clues. I awake in a sweat to Janiko's face, which looks extremely concerned. I sit up slowly, stripping my wet covers away from my body, welcoming the cool air.

"Are you okay?" Janiko says, his eyebrows rose.

"I can't sleep. Every time it starts I start to wake up." I say shaking the cobwebs from the corners of my mind. "I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow."

"You mean today." Janiko says his voice edging on panic now. "You first match starts within an hour."

"What?" I leap out of bed quickly as his words sting me into action.

"Calm down, you fight her in 45 minutes. No need to rush."

"Oh," I drop my tensed arms by my side. "You made it sound like I had 10 minutes to get to the arena…" I trail off my mind searching my memories for traces of clues in the dream. But all my attempts come to nothing but different versions of blood splattered on my face.

Shaking my head I walk to my closet in a sort of numbed state. Reaching into the top of the closet, I grab my gloves from the top shelf. Putting them on, I next grab a pair of shoes, and struggle to put them on until I realize I was attempting to squeeze my foot into the wrong shoe. Resolving to pay more attention I put on my pants, after removing my shoe, then put on my shoes. After putting my shirt on, I put on my weighted shirt over it, which is identical to the lighter shirt under it. Walking out of the room I spot Janiko sitting on the couch. I move silently to the door and walk out.

"Where ya headed to?" Janiko asked in what I thought was an unnecessarily upbeat tone of voice.

"To burn time." I answer.

"Well don't burn too much, you've got 2 matches after Ayana.

"Got it," I shut the door silently and turn right, headed downstairs, then close my eyes in disgust.

Walking towards me is two of Jimi's friends and possibly the only people I hold as much animosity towards as I usually reserve for Jimi himself.

"So," drawls his main buddy Kala. "I heard you beat up on Jimi last night."

Kala's race was uncertain, but upon first glance you could tell it was not human. His skin is dark, almost literally black, in every sense of the word. He has bright white eyes, and he's been known to frighten more than his share of people at night. He'd even frightened me several times until I knew who he was. His most annoying feature was the fact he continued to antagonize me in dark areas. Kala is tall, very skinny, with long limbs, which enhance his agility and flexibility. He is extremely manipulative, and clever, and I had a constant list of reasons to not trust him for whenever he tried to con me. Kala's voice has a tendency to hypnotize anyone who listens to him for an extended period of time, as it's a low hiss, and his mood can only be told by the emphasis he puts on syllables as it almost always seems the same volume; some say that when questioned, Kala said he keeps his voice quiet for everyone's protection.

"Yeah," I say in an annoyed tone. "You would of thought he'd try to defend himself sometime during the fight. But he seemed determined for me to abuse him as much as possible."

"Before or after Ayana beat you up?" Dabir sneers.

Dabir, Jimi's other best friend, was extremely smart. Not in the "hustling" sense as Kala, but in the most "academic" sense of the term. He knew possibly every important piece of information relevant to whatever his malevolent goals were at the moment. Dabir is shorter than Kala, but powerful. He is about the same light brown complexion as me, and has muscles bulging along his limbs, mostly in his chest and arms. His deep voice is easily the most recognizable in any crowd, and easy to hear, even at low volumes.

"Who said Ayana beat me up?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Well come on," Kala says as the two of them circle me. "We all know you. After you had Jimi where you wanted, he'd be dead. But Ayana shows up, and Jimi comes away with his life."

"So you either got beaten by Ayana, or…" Dabir's expression of glee telling me his other conclusion, "You've got a soft spot for her."

"I bet it's not as soft as it is for your mother." I respond staring Dabir in the face with an expression as filled with hatred as his.

Suddenly Dabir's hand snap out, wrapping a strong grip around my throat, and slams me into the wall. My eyes water from the pain in the base of my neck and the lack of air. I'm brought from the edge of unconsciousness when I feel the heat of a ki ball coming into existence about an inch away from my face.

"It would take but a slip of the hand for me to break you," Dabir growled dangerously.

"Release him," a calm voice comes from the right of me. I twist my head painfully to look upon my savior.

"My apologies Master Essam." I take a deep breath as Dabir's powerful hand releases me, and to my shock, I hit the ground dropping to one knee from weakness.

I look at Essam with great appreciation for her timely appearance, which seems to be the main reason she can run the school so well. Being a female, Essam is possibly, the most disputed head of the Academy, but her record on the battle field, and in other related fields could not be completely ignored, and when all rationalizations for ignoring her failed to hold up, Essam was appointed Master of the school. She was average height, about 5'7" had bright white hair, which hung to the small of her back, and was light skinned. She held a clipboard to her chest and had a rushed look that contrasted her strong calm voice.

"What's going on here?" Essam looked from me to Dabir, while Kala tried to appear as insignificant as possible.

"Nothing Master," I cough for a second. "Just a little pre-battle intimidation. Nothing you should worry about."

"Lying to me won't keep you out of disconcerting situations in the future. But if you feel, the need to, or that you can diffuse them yourself, as I know you're fond of doing," Essam rubbed the front of her outfit as if flattening wrinkles while talking to me, "then by all means next time, tell me that you'd rather hold that information clandestine amongst yourselves."

While my mind sorted through her complicated vocabulary I answer, "I thought everyone knew of my circumstances with Jimi, and his," I looked at Dabir and Kala, "subsidiaries."

"Watch your words Déshawn." Essam says in a warning tone. "You of all people should know not to incense other…beyond, yourself."

"So you seek to rile me?" I raise a suggestive eyebrow.

"I fail to see how I can light the fuse on a stick of dynamite with a blackened wick," Essam says in a sagely voice.

"I'm going to warm up, I've got a match in 30 minutes." I storm off when I cannot answer her riddled metaphor, earning an exasperated sigh from Master Essam. The truth is I'm not quite sure what she meant.

Walking downstairs I resist the urge to punch a hole through the wall and fly out. I felt helpless fighting in the close quarters, as I always have, and could no more have beaten Dabir, than yelled for help. As I exit the building, which holds the dormitories, I squint against the sunlight, as my last trip outside had been at night. Looking around I spot the battle area across the courtyard to the right, the training area was to my left, but I walk straight across the courtyard to the main hall. Inside is spacious areas, which house the classrooms: where everything from battle techniques, to armor and weapons are taught, libraries: which holds books about the history and future of fighting and technology, lunch rooms, and recreational areas: where people might also spar in a small circle of people, much to many teachers' dismay. Entering the hall, I walk to the right into the lunchroom to find most of the academy at breakfast. I look down the line I see what the choices are, mini-pancakes, scrambled eggs, biscuits, bacon and sausages, and cereal, and decide against eating just yet. I turn around and look around the room. Spotting my team's table I go over and sit down.

Teams are chosen, by students' choices as long as they're within reasonable range of each other's ranks, at the beginning of the school year. Teams don't necessarily live in nearby dorms, but they're encouraged to try and group near each other's dorms. The strongest person in the group, chosen by votes or battles, usually leads the teams. Most leaders are chosen by votes, as fighting for the position generates resentment among the members. Even so, some voting causes disgruntled fighters. A beautiful girl named Abrihet, who was chosen not for her power or rank, but because she's so friendly, it's easier for her to be a leader figure, is the leader of our team. In fact, it was such an easy decision that most members don't remember the vote ever happening. I remember nominating Abrihet and nobody was willing to vie against her, so she humbly accepted her spot. As this was the first weekend back at the academy, nobody really had anything to do but relax or train. The real work started on Monday when everyone would begin battling for top ranks, and homework from the learning classes would start to pour in.

I sit down at the table, which holds 1 of my 5 teammates on our 6-fighter team, and I smile at the pretty young girl. Abrihet sits down to the left me after greeting Samantha and me.

"Déshawn," she whispers to me, "how'd your fight with Jimi go?"

"I heard Ayana interfered right when you were about to finish," the ever-nosy, and ever-present Samantha butts in.

"From who?" I stare across the table at her.

"From Ayana," she seemed slightly embarrassed, but had a feverish look that showed she didn't really care.

"What?" Abrihet looks at me shocked.

"And I was about to beat her into oblivion, when the gods frowned upon me." I say waving my hand to the ceiling. "And reason was shot into me from the bow of conscience."

"You mean you fell in love?" Abrihet giggles.

"Nah, she rubs me the wrong way," I answer looking at Abrihet's bacon intending to steal a piece.

"Then teach her the right way to rub you," Samantha giggles.

"Don't have that kind of time," I say reaching into Abrihet's bacon, earning a light slap on the hand but managing to get it into my mouth.

"That's mean," Samantha gives a kind of scandalized laugh.

"Well it seems more like your realm anyways," I say finishing my piece of bacon.

"Always a funny guy huh Déshawn?" Chafulumisa says sitting down next to Samantha with a large plate of food, which gives the appearance of him having taken as much as he could.

"Wow, you think you'd leave room for seconds." I say.

"This is my seconds," Chafulu, the fastest member of the team, says in an honest voice. "I finished my firsts in line and went back to double my helpings."

"You know Misa," Samantha uses the pet name she gave him, lying on Chafulu's arm. "If he gets too light he won't be able to keep up with himself.

"I could always keep track of him," I brag.

"Then you'd wake up," he smirks.

Samantha, who has a crush on Chafulumisa and is naturally impressed with his every comment, laughs heartily before returning to her small breakfast. Janiko arrives at the table, with his own tray of food, and sits on Samantha's right directly across from me.

"You need to eat some food," Janiko says pointedly. "You fight Dabir after Ayana."

"What?" Chafulu coughs on his food. "Have you checked the ranks?"

"Too bad the teachers are gonna be there, they'll be able to stop me." I say in a distant voice.

"Déshawn, why do you seem to have such an insatiable urge to kill," Abrihet looks at me while trying to hide the note of worry in her voice.

"Janiko you need to keep your friend under control," Samantha adds her 2 cents.

"Does he look anything like me?" Janiko says smoothly.

"Not really," Samantha looks dumbly at me first then Janiko.

"Then why do you expect me to be his father?" Janiko says thoughtfully.

Samantha falls silent and goes back to eating quietly.

"Who are you fighting today Chafulu?" I say. I've always enjoyed watching Chafulumisa fight because of his speed, which I've commented, borders on "irresponsibly quick."

"Ah," he looks up as if trying to remember. "Don't know, I know I'm two fights after yours though."

"I might look it up later," Janiko, says, who is knowingly the main organizer of the group.

At this point Edana sits down on my right and gives me a hug that I gladly return. Edana is an energetic girl, who I've always been close too. I publicly have a crush on her, which everyone assures me she returns, but we've never acted on our seemingly mutual feelings. Edana is average size, about 5'6" 120 lbs, slightly darker skin than my own, green eyes, and black hair which she usually has in braids or a ponytail, giving her a sporty look. A lot of people see her as a "tomboy".

"You look better this morning Edana," Abrihet says leaning forward to look at her across me.

"Yes well, a little medicine helped me out," Edana says.

"What was wrong?" I ask concerned.

"She wasn't feeling well." Abrihet says off-handedly and goes back to polishing off her food.

"I was so hyper I couldn't stop shaking," Edana jokes about her minor seizure problem, which usually arises when she's stressed or tense, or is seriously injured. If she's hurt too badly the seizures will reach a dangerous level.

"You need to relax more," Janiko says. "You seizures would become less frequent."

"Or you could do like Déshawn," Samantha's high voice is noticeably edged with joking laughter, "and stay apathetic. Then you'd never so much as a twitch."

"Shut up Sam," Edana sounds suddenly grumpy.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," she sounds apologetic but Edana cuts her off.

"You need to learn when not to joke around." Edana glares at her. "This is one of those things."

"What shouldn't she joke about? Your seizures or Déshawn?" Abrihet highlights my relationship with Edana, which borders on dating.

Edana quietly turns back to her food looking disgruntled.

"What were you so hyper about?" Janiko steers the conversation away from the uncomfortable subject.

"You know her," Chafulu pipes up. "She's just excited to fight somebody, after being isolated all summer."

"Oh yeah," I say looking back at Edana, who suddenly seems willing to speak again. "How was your vacation to Europe?"

"It seems my parents were bent on keeping me away from all remotely interesting sights. So I decided to spend most of my time practicing at the hotel."

"Sounds fun," Chafulu says sarcastically.

"After I worked out my program I actually started to improve actually," Edana says.

"Improving is always fun," Janiko points out the obvious meaning to Edana's vague response.

The lunchroom suddenly goes quiet as a loud beeping sound is heard over the P.A. system and Master Essam's voice floats throughout the Academy's rooms and grounds.

"Good morning students, and I hope you've enjoyed your first week of school." This earned her a few "yeah" or cheers from the students. "And understand that it was thoroughly relaxing and more 'introductive' than actual instruction. Because on Monday you will be focused on the infinitesimal goal of becoming the best fighter alive, or so I hope you all wish to become. Today there are several ranking matches in the battle area, in about 10 minutes, if you wish to watch. I implore the first two fighters, Déshawn Jackson and Ayana Kengi, to leave right after these announcements to get ready for their matches." The announcement of my match with Ayana cause murmurs and quiet discussions amongst those who knew both or one of us, and those curious about the special interest of the match. "Now, first off, teachers are never to be disobeyed, especially in the time of a crisis. If you have a problem with any instructions given to you by a teacher, I am the **only** person you can appeal to, **after** you've carried out your orders. Classes start after breakfast on Monday, you can pick up your schedule anytime this weekend in the Office of the Main Hall, or have it sent to the Reception area of the Dormitories, which might be your easiest choice. If you want your schedule sent to your room call the Office from your Dormitory phone." Another murmur arose, this time about shared classes and Dormitory phones. "This may bring to your attention, the addition of phones in dormitory rooms, which are linked only to other dorms, and the rest of the Academy's phone lines. Your conversation will **never** be impeded upon by a teacher at this school as we'd like to put faith in your integrity, and privacy, to me personally is sacred."

At this point my mind fades out of focus and I begin to search for other ways of entertaining myself. Holding my hands parallel to each other I begin to concentrate energy between them. I feel a slight spasm to my right and realize my energy had caught the attention of the mentally sensitive Edana. She can feel even the slightest spikes of energy, and is a skilled healer because of this sensitivity. Looking down she spots the source of her sudden alertness. She smiles at me and puts her hands around my own. I feel my hands and arms grow warmer and the golden ball of energy turns brighter and grows in size. As her and I feed the ball of ki in my hands I feel my side suddenly stabbed by Abrihet who leans down and whispers in a sharp tone, "when you two are done flirting, breakfast is over."

"Let's go," I say to the unaware Edana while I dissipate my ki ball, to her visible displeasure.

"Okay…" she says in the quietest voice she's used all day.

As we stand up I put my arm around her as the students file out to fill the battle area stands and I head to the arena to wait for Ayana to finish getting ready. I sit down in the arena and look around. The arena's surface is smooth, square, and extends a comfortable 50 yards in any direction. The stands form a half circle around the arena, surrounding all but 1 side to allow for participants and observers to come in. The stands across from the entrance to the battle area marked one edge of the academy's property. I move to the middle of the arena and sit down, stretching my legs out and leaning back on my arms.

"5 minutes until the start of the first match," comes a computer voice over the P.A. system.

"Déshawn," I hear Janiko's voice behind me.

"Yeah?" I turn around and look up at the tall fighter.

"Stay humble today alright?" he advises.

"Always," I stand up and stretch.

"Good luck."

"Thanks," I turn as Ayana enters the arena dressed in what looks like a female ninja suit. Her hair is tied back into an intricate bun with some kind of straight sticks to hold it. The sticks fan out in a peacock-like fashion. Her shirt and pants seem to blend into 1 piece of clothing, with an elaborate blue and white pattern over it. She looks me over without a word and waits for the arrival of Master Essam, which isn't very long.

"Okay, you know the rules, do whatever you want, as long as it does not result in your opponents death. We're here to practice not slaughter," Master Essam seems to focus on me about this point. "When I tell you to, stop, and I will announce the winner."

I nod to Ayana, who nods back coolly, who seems intent on maintaining anonymity during this fight. I accept this in stride and don't question her reasons.

"Take your places."

We walk to the middle of the arena and put about 10 feet between us.

"Fight."

Ayana launches herself at me with surprising quickness. I lean to the left dodging her uppercut. I twist back and punch her in the stomach. Crossing my right foot over the left foot I step past her and spin hooking my left foot into the same spot I just punched her, I kick Ayana across the arena, gaining power by simply twisting my body. I watch her slide amongst the "oohs" from the crowd, who seem shocked by my techniques. Ayana stands up and looks at me, a poorly disguised face of pain and fury, showing no damage except for slight abrasions on her arm and face from sliding along the arena. She comes back at me, cautiously this time, and palms a ki blast at my stomach with her right hand. I jump backwards slightly, and drop into a deep stance. I lean forward gathering a large amount of ki; I send a counter blast, about three times the size of Ayana's small ki attack. The blast consumes hers and slams into her hand and blows her back across the arena again. This time her screams of pain meet the gasps of the audience. I float up into the air slightly as Ayana gets up to her feet. I move in swiftly on the offensive this time, and swing a right fist at her face. She catches it in her right hand, and I feel the blood in her hand. She slams a left hook in my face twisting me around. Spinning with the force of her attack, I whip my left hand out and hit her with a left backhand, following up with a right hook. I continue spinning and jump up into the air with a left hook kick across her face again. This glazes her eyes over for a second as she leans back, but she focuses again and catches herself. She jumps back and looks at me, hatred burning in her face. Her entire body starts to glow with silver energy that matches her hair. I fold my arms across my chest and watch her gather her energy for a last ditch attempt to hurt me.

"You know," she raises her right fist and looks at it as she tightens her fist, causing blood to drip out. "I'm not much hand to hand."  
"Clearly," I snort.

"But, I've never met anyone that could beat me in matters of mind and energy," Ayana says almost to herself.

The crowd seems engrossed as there is complete silence everywhere, and even the insects appear riveted.

"I've heard enough."

I push off and cock a right hook back, all intentions to end the fight so I could rest up for my next fight, but I suddenly realize the actual difficulty of the fight as I'm slammed back by a powerful wave of force. I fall backwards to see the arena smoking right where I had just been thrown back. I growl and get up clutching my chest, which suddenly begins to burn.

"You see," Ayana's voice is still light, but it's become a dangerous hiss. "By countering my energy attacks, we've forged a temporary connection."

"Connection?" I find it difficult to make sense of her words through the eye watering pain in my chest.

"And I've become completely aware of it now," Ayana's eyes finally lock onto mine. And it becomes clear to me that she can feel the same pain inflicted upon me. "Through this, you will lose this battle."

Ayana extends her hands out to me and my eyes suddenly get wide in shock at the pain shooting through my body. I yell in agony, my muscles are tensed and I feel paralyzed in my position. Ayana gives me a wicked smile as I feel myself weaken, while at the same time, I can sense her power growing.

"You're," I begin panting through the pain and sudden exhaustion.

"Stealing your ki."

I find no defense in my mind as I quickly go through a list of counterattacks. I feel too weak to hit her, using my energy would only deepen her connection to me. Finding only one solution, I push myself back onto my feet. I close my eyes, in the hope that not looking at Ayana would prevent me from distracting myself. I draw my energy deep into my body, and Ayana laughs.

"You cannot hide your energy, I can reach into your very soul!" she put emphasis on the word "soul" as my pain doubles and Ayana continues to steal my life force.

Without wasting words, I continue suppressing my ki, and I suddenly feel myself stop weakening as Ayana's energy reaches deep into the heart of my energy to continue stealing me. This turns the battle into a metaphysical tug-of-war as I take a hold of Ayana's stray strand of energy with my mind, and pull, in an attempt to reverse the flow of ki. She screams, as she wasn't ready for my reaction and hits her knees from the sudden weakness I also suffered from.

"No!" She screams.

I continue drawing my energy into my body until I feel renewed and ready to continue fighting. It exhilarates me freeing my mind from its body. I see a movie reel of images flashing by my eyes at an incoherent pace. My sudden rush of power and control induces such a state of ecstasy that I begin to smile. Opening my eyes I laugh as I see Ayana's once fierce eyes squinted in pain.

"STOP!" I hear Master Essam yell as she rushes in between Ayana's unconscious body and myself. "That's quite enough!"

I break the connection between our energy and drop to one knee suddenly fatigued. Looking up into Master Essam's face, I spot something accusatory in her face. I gather my strength and stand up as Academy Medics rush into the arena and scoop her limp body up.

"Is she-?" I begin to ask.

"She's fine," Essam says a little more calmly. "What were you thinking?"

"What are you talking about? She started the attack I just countered it better," I shrug.

"You can barely control your own energy. Next time you want to try manipulating someone else's, please make sure to stop well before you nearly KILL a fellow schoolmate."

"Oh," I say dumbly.

Looking around the arena as I walk off the arena I notice everyone's mumbling and can tell they agree wholeheartedly with Master Essam. Turning in embarrassment I soar towards the academy's main entrance slowly, trying to push the pleasure of my intimate interaction with Ayana out of my mind.


	4. Chapter 4

-----------------

Looking around the arena as I walk off the arena I notice everyone's mumbling and can tell they agree wholeheartedly with Master Essam. Turning in embarrassment I soar towards the academy's main entrance slowly, trying to push the pleasure of my intimate interaction with Ayana out of my mind.

I feel guilty, especially for wanting to do it again when I know it's wrong to. I turn left after entering the academy's main door and run down the hallway. The hallway ends in a doorway with a white square sign that dons a red cross. I enter the Academy Hospital and the Head Nurse impedes my progress immediately.

"What do you want?" her voice is stern and suspicious.

"Nurse Grizela I need to see Ayana," I say quickly.

"Ha! I think not! From what I heard you've seen plenty of her," Grizela's voice is accusing.

"You think I did it on purpose?" I growl frustrated.

"If you didn't that seems all the more reason for me to keep her away from you, if you can't seem to control yourself. And with your temper, tsk, no I think you'd better go watch the rest of the fights." The nurse clicked her tongue at me.

Turning around with my fists balled I stormed back towards the door, but a light sobbing and sniff to the left catches my attention. I peek my head into the cafeteria to spot Samantha sitting on a lunch bench alone, crying quietly. Shaking my head, and knowing exactly what she was so upset about, the current state of her best friend, I move on quietly. Walking out of the door I stop and spot Chafulumisa crossing the courtyard towards me, his eyes clearly showing worry.

"Where's Samantha?" Chafulumisa says hurriedly.

"I thought you ain't really like her Misa?" I use her favorite name for him with a smirk.

"Where?" Chafulumisa grabs me by the collar his voice edged with a slight growl.

"Somewhere in there. She shouldn't be hard to find, I mean, does she ever keep her voice down?" I jab my thumb inside the Academy's main hall in an unconcerned fashion.

"Answer me!" He pushes me up against the door with a slam that rattles the hinges, and makes me squint my eyes in pain.

"Calm down, she's in the lunchroom," I try to hide my smile.

"Thanks," he starts to move around me. "Look, sorry. I don't know where my head's at."

"Don't mention it," I say. Then with a fake wince, I add, "really."

He gives me one last apologetic glance before running into the lunchroom. I turn and look at Chafulu running across to meet up with Samantha in the cafeteria, then turning back around I see a large fist headed at my face. I duck quickly and watch Dabir's fist smash through the door. Pinning his arm into the makeshift hole with my left hand I hit his exposed left side with a swift kick to the ribs. I raise a knee into the bottom of his left elbow hyper extending his joint to his agony. I spin around, ducking from in front of him, with a hook kick to the right side of his head. As he flies through the air away from me, amongst yells of pain, I watch him slide along the ground. As I look at the disgusted and failed look on Dabir's face, I smirk as the realization hits me: he was in love with Ayana.

"Dabir, is something wrong?" I laugh at him blasting off through the air after his motionless body. As soon as I land over top of him I kick him in the other side of his ribs. "Are you in love? Huh?"

He twitches in pain and groans but doesn't get up to my delight.

"Answer me chump!" I stomp him in the face, causing blood to flow freely from his nose and lips, then step back a little bit to let him sit up.

"Stay…away from…my…grr…love…" he finally relented getting back to his feet staggeringly.

"Ha!" I flip forward, planting my feet into his chest and pushing him back into the ground, causing a small pit in the shape of Dabir, and flip back off in one smooth move.

I land with my back to Dabir as I turn look towards the arena.

"You know, I really didn't have control out there Dabir. I love fighting too much, and if I gain the upper hand I don't stop until my opponent is incapacitated…or," I add with a bitter smirk. "Rescued."

"You really think that makes you some kind of warrior huh?" Dabir laughed regaining his footing. "You're still nothing to the people in your ranking, Jimiyu is still below you."

"Ayana is above me." I smile looking over my shoulder. Then laugh, "Or was, she probably isn't anymore."

I heard Dabir's growl from behind me, and I realize I touched his sensitive spot again. But I decided to take a more friendly approach.

"You know," I turn and approach Dabir with my fists by my side determined to not attack him again. "I didn't mean to hurt her like that. But she attacked me with a force I don't really understand, and when I started to win…I couldn't stop winning."

"You're unbelievable, some great fighter and can't control yourself." Dabir sounded furious.

"No, I don't think it wasn't that I couldn't, so much as I was enjoying it thoroughly," I admit with a sadistic reflective look on my face.

"I'll kill you!" Dabir suddenly hit me in the chest with a sudden punch that I was unprepared for.

I fly a good few yards before I coming to a sudden stop as my back hits the ground and stars cloud my vision of Dabir's leaping figure coming at me. In the course of about 2.5 seconds, I fire off a quick blast of ki at Dabir's chest, and when he is unaffected by, or uncaring of, the blast I roll over letting him drop his left knee into the ground. He turns quickly and tackles me into the school fountain, but I seem to have attracted attention with the blast as Dabir releases my throat suddenly. I sat up to look at Master Essam pulling him off of me. Unwilling to stop my fight I get up quickly, arms flexed for the second Master Essam got from between my target and I. Dabir seemed as eager as me to continue our match and was poised for a third round also. Master Essam sensed this, seemingly, as she remained between the pair of us.  
"Dabir, return to the arena, I believe Jimiyu has finished his visit and needs to speak with you," she said swiftly. "Déshawn, you come with me."

I start to follow Essam into the Main Academy building. Seeing Chafulumisa cuddling with Samantha in the cafeteria alone, I smile to myself. But we don't turn right towards the pair, or keep straight towards the Services Area; we make an immediate left that leads into the large Learning Area where the classrooms and teachers offices are. As we wind through the long hallways, I feel curiosity about why I was being brought with her like I was in trouble, when I was clearly on the defensive of the fight.

"_Even she must know that,"_ I thought to myself.

"I know more than you think," she says suddenly, and I look up shocked that she had read my mind. "I know why you and Dabir were fighting, and more importantly, I know what happened in the arena."

"What happened and how do you know?" I question Essam, feeling foolish that I'd assumed she could read my mind.

"Your friend Janiko is not only intelligent, but he's also wise," Essam says.

"I'm gonna beat him until he-"

"And he's just done you a great service rendering this exclusive yet revealing information about you. It's made me realize why you need so much help," she says bowing her head. "And I was blind to not have realized this self-destructive situation before. For that I apologize."

"It's not your fault I have problems," I felt guilty that she was apologizing for my behavior.

"However, I feel that I know how I may be able to help you, as I've done it for a student here before. I believe you may know whom I mean," Essam stops talking to let me think about her statement.

"Edana." I answer thinking about her hyperactivity problem.

"Yes," Essam nods. "It used to be so severe that she had full-blown seizures during periods of heightened adrenaline flow. But now it has been scaled back to violent fits of twitching."

"Oh my god," I suddenly feel an increase in worry about her.

"She asked me not to tell you, but I feel that you can be trusted to keep this information to yourself."

"But why tell me?" I ask perplexed.

"Because I'm perfectly aware of your relationship with her." Essam suddenly pauses, then resumes speaking with a slightly rushed tone. "Come down to my office next Friday at 8:30 all right. We'll talk more then, and discuss if you want to go through with this."

"Of course Master Essam," I say and turn to walk out of the door. I feel a slight tingling in my chest, for no apparent reason, and hesitate for a second to glance back at Master Essam. Shaking my head I walk out of the door shutting it behind me. Suddenly something on the ceiling moves and I begin to prepare myself for battle until I realize that it's Edana.

"Sh!" I scold her and float up to her hurriedly. "You're loud."

She had managed to find a pipe to lean back on, and was apparently waiting for me to come out. "Déshawn," she whispers, sounding slightly out of breath. "It's uncomfortable up here, you know somewhere we can talk?"

"Yeah, follow me," I say confused but slightly excited, feeling the same tingle I'd just experienced in Essam's office.

We float down to the ground silently, and turn back to the front of the Academy. As Edana walks out of the door, I turn back and notice with a satisfied smirk that Chafulumisa and Samantha are gone. As I turn back to the door to follow Edana out of the building, I feel a sudden flash of heat in my chest, which causes me to pause again. Edana notices and turns around to look at me.

"Déshawn?"

Noticing a large ki blast flying from the sky behind her, my eyes get wide in shock.

"Watch out!" I shout taking off from the ground with explosiveness. I fly over her quickly and placing myself in the air between Edana and the energy attack. I use an axe-handle to smash the blast away into the ground off to the side. The blast explodes and causes and large cloud of dirt to be thrown up with a lot of grass. The dust fills the air and causes me to choke as I wave my hand to clear it. I feel Edana step up behind me; her breathing was heavy on the base of my neck. As the dust clears I see a small form of a woman in front of me. She's dressed in a silky white, almost see-through, cloth that seems to drape over her shoulders and sag in the middle. Her matching white pants are tight around her ankle and waist, but baggy between the two.

"You!" Edana steps in front of me with a hiss of fury.

"Oh yes, and you know my brother?" the woman smiles back evilly.

"The one I killed?" I can hear Edana's smirk in her voice.

"Yes, well…" her head seems to drop in sorrow. But I hold my breath as I predict her next words. "You weren't very thorough."

Suddenly I hear a large figure drop from behind me with a growl. Turning around I look upon a large man. He's got a black shirt, which seems to be missing top left half of it, which apparently was ripped off. His head is bald, and he's got bulging muscles that would make Dabir shiver in fear. His pants are regular shorts until they pass his knees, at which point they turn into compression pants. He cracks his knuckles aggressively while looking down on me. I smirk and crack my neck staring into his face, which is full of rage.

"But, I threw Kale into the pit…" I hear Edana's fearful and unbelieving voice.

"It doesn't matter…you failed once, and will again," Kale says in a deep voice.

I swing a right fist into his face, "don't talk out of turn," and follow up with a knee to his stomach. I leap back slightly to watch my handiwork, but he stands firm, gently massaging the area I kneed. My eyes get wide in fear, as anyone else would have been doubled in pain. He suddenly moves forward and slams a fist into my face. My vision almost instantly goes dark and stars pop up in my eyes. I lean back, blood dripping from my mouth as I fly backwards. I feel my impact softened by Edana's arms, but she gasps and drops me as Kale's sister grabs her in a half nelson.

"Get…off me…Aliikai!" Edana struggles to fight Aliikai off.

I growl, and leap into the air slightly, but I'm stopped by Kale, who deftly grabs my legs. I fall to the ground surprised, my chin hits the ground hard, making me bite my tongue, as I don't have time to brace for the impact. My eyes stay focused on Edana's struggle, my two hands flattened towards the pair. As Kale drags me backwards I release a blast from each hand, at the ground below both Edana and Aliikai causing the two to be blown apart. The second I've separated the women, Kale slings me through the air and I fly about 40 yards through the air before I crash into the ground at the base of the dormitories. After I slide to a stop I get up quickly and blast off through the air to find Edana knocked out, and in Kale's powerful grip, the pair flying away from the academy. Flying as fast as I can, the wind stinging my eyes painfully, I gain on the two quickly as they had just started off the ground. I swoop down in front of them quickly. Without a word Kale throws Edana at me, and I see Aliikai coming towards me to attack me while I try to catch Edana. Releasing a quick blast of energy I blow Aliikai into Kale, and catch Edana quickly. Kale growls and floats towards me slowly, and I look around in a panic unsure of how to fight him with Edana in my arms. Improvising, I put my right foot under Edana's right foot and swing her body around, with my own weight, kicking Kale in the face. I notice, that in the air he's a lot more movable than on the ground. I continue the rotation of our bodies and I use my own foot for a hook kick across his face. He's thrown backwards but Aliikai flies forward to follow up with a battle cry. I throw Edana into the air and form another ki blast onto my fist, and hit Aliikai in the stomach causing it to explode on contact. Aliikai is thrown backwards and hits Kale; the pair quickly disentangles and looks at me with hatred in their eyes. I look up and catch Edana's body easily and move my right foot back into a fighting stance, although my arms still support Edana. I felt sore and wasn't sure how long I could continue this fighting. Suddenly I see two figures swoop up in between my opponents, and me and I feel relieved to see that it's Chafulumisa and Samantha.

"I love you guys," I say gratefully.

"Run!" Chafulumisa yells at me.

I hear Samantha yell as she powers up followed by Kale's roars of frustration of trying to hit Chafulumisa, and my heart swells with pride in my teammates. I zip through the air at high speeds as I reach the academy grounds quickly. I burst into the academy's Main Building loudly and realize that the scheduled fights are probably done and that it's "open battle" starting in the Arena now and that I'd missed my other 2 matches which probably dropped my rank more then my win over Ayana put it up. Most the students are back in the cafeteria for their break before returning for more fighting. The chattering dies when I rush into the cafeteria, and skip the Academy Hospital to go to our team table that holds Janiko by himself.

"Where are Samantha and Chafulu?" Janiko quickly questions me.

"Fighting Kale and Aliikai." I answer quickly. Then as an afterthought, "And we need to talk later."

"I know," Janiko stands up. "I'm going to help them."

"Wait Jan." Abrihet says coming from behind me as I gently lay Edana on the bench. "You know more than me about healing injuries, let me and Déshawn go back for assistance."

"Okay," Janiko sits back down.

"Let's go," I say turning in a hurry. "Stay close."

"Be careful you two!" Janiko yells as Abrihet and me run out of the building.

As we arrive on the scene of the battle, I find Chafulumisa locked with Kale in a clashing of ki beams. Aliikai and Samantha are fighting ferociously as they ignore their dropping altitudes. I throw a quick blast as Kale's back, causing him to lose power. Chafulumisa quickly takes advantage of this and pushes his beam into the face of Kale. Abrihet moves on an intercept course towards Samantha and Aliikai. I watch as Aliikai gains the advantage by rapidly hitting Samantha in the stomach. Samantha yells in pain, but Abrihet grabs Samantha by the arm pulling her back up a split second away from the ground. However, Aliikai didn't have any help and slams into the ground, hard.

"NO!" Kale shouts in shock. He rushes down to her side, yelling in anguish. Aliikai doesn't move as he cradles her in his arms while he moans in sadness. "This isn't over!!!" his voice is deeper than before, and hoarse.

"Quiet you," I throw a ki blast at him.

He roars in sudden fury and flies off away from the academy while we watch with interest.

"Nice save," Samantha thanks Abrihet.

"Both of you," Chafulumisa slaps me on the back cheerfully.

"Not a problem," Abrihet says.

"Who were they?" I ask feeling out of the loop.

"Clearly enemies from Edana's past. She'll have to elaborate on it when we get back though."


	5. Chapter 5

----------------------

"Nice save," Samantha thanks Abrihet.

"Both of you," Chafulumisa slaps me on the back cheerfully.

"Not a problem," Abrihet says.

"Who were they?" I ask feeling out of the loop.

"Clearly enemies from Edana's past. She'll have to elaborate on it when we get back though."

"They have been my mortal enemies since I've been able to fight," Edana was sitting up on the bench at our team table in the cafeteria, an ice pack on her head while she recovered from her battle. "The last time we met, it ended with her brother being swallowed into the pit of lava in the active volcano we were fighting on. Aliikai vowed to have her vengeance and still continues to keep that promise, never successfully though."

"I think it's time for me to go end these meager promises."

"I don't know Déshawn, Aliikai and Kale are much more powerful than they were before. It doesn't make sense how they got so powerful so fast."

"Not sure, but you think they'd be a lot more experienced with their power," Chafulumisa says sitting down.

"What do you mean?" I raise an eyebrow to him.

"Well, for all their strength and speed, they were ignorant with it. Me and Samantha should have been dead by the time you guys got there," he shrugged.

"Don't say that Misa," Samantha starts, sounding horrified.

"Well, it's true. If they had the training you could get here, it wouldn't have been close. I wish I was that powerful, I'd put it to good use," Chafulumisa sounds as if he is daydreaming.

"Undoubtedly," I begin to stand up. "But I think Edana should go to bed now, she needs rest."

"Come tuck me in?" she asks with a playful smile. She stands up, and I notice a small twitch in the arm not holding the ice to her head.

"How can I say no?" I feel guilty about her injuries. But even if she were perfectly healthy I would have gone anyways.

I pick Edana up in my strong arms, and we turn out of the cafeteria amongst jokes from onlookers about Edana and me. I even thought I heard a wolf-whistle somewhere along the way. As we reached the outside of the dormitories, I put her down gently while she giggled, and we walked in arms around each other. The secretary of the Reception area hails me as soon as we walk in. I reach her desk while Edana waits by the entrance to the hall that leads to the dorms.

"Here's a note from Master Essam told me with the dates of your meetings in case you decide to accept her 'offer' as she put it," she smiles with a twinkle in her eye.

"She must be confident I'm going to accept it huh?"

"You should, Master Essam is offering you something a lot of students wish they could beg her to do."

"Then maybe I'll get her to help some other student in my place."

"You shouldn't waste an opportunity like this," she says shaking her head.

"I don't see this from the same view as the general population though. I see this as her way of keeping me from fighting Dabir," I say. "Goodnight Nani."

I walk over and meet up with Edana as we head into the Dorms. I feel exhausted as we walk quietly up to her room knowing that her roommate, Abrihet, is still at the cafeteria. I sit on the couch in the middle of the living room and watch as she goes into her room with a smile. She returns having changed out of her previous garments and walks in with a red silk robe on. I can't see anything else, except her beautifully shaped body under the tightly tied cloth. She sits on my lap and leans down to me slowly.

"Thank you so much," Edana coos to me.

"What'd I do?" I gently kiss her on the cheek.

"For everything. Especially today," she answers softly.

"Today? It's my fault you got hurt and almost kidnapped today," I let my guilt out.

Edana leans back and looks me in the eyes with a smile, "so? I'm here right? A lot of people would have given up, especially against Kale. I've seen it so many times it makes me shudder almost." She added the "almost" as if to quell my worry about her seizures. "But you came after me before they'd even gotten started, and was ready for the bitter end. That shows me something."

"Which would be?" I smirk slightly.

"That you have no sense, but you must truly love me."

"I do," I say to her, caressing her cheek that I'd kissed.

"And I love you to, Déshawn Jackson," she said with an almost formal tone.

"Come here, Adan."

I grab her face in both of my hands and kiss her deeply.

The man laughed among my screams as my father continued to watch his life spill. A sadistic smirk curled onto his face as he aimed easily for the ribs of his downed opponent. With ridiculous quickness he was suddenly by the side of my father. His knee tore into his ribs and my dad yelled as his insides were damaged beyond repair. A broken rib punched out the other side of my dad spraying my face with blood as I sat on the ground screaming helplessly.

"Kyuushi o kyuui." Then his focused turned to me, and I suddenly shook with rage.

"I'll KILL YYYOOOOUU

UUUUUUU!!!" I sit up and stop yelling as a finger is touched to my lips. I look around wildly trying to gain a reference on my surroundings and could only see Abrihet in front me. Looking down at the couch I'm sitting on, I lean back stretching my legs out and laying back down.

"Déshawn, take a breath and calm down." Abrihet says gently. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…this is, normal, really." I say looking around still wondering where I am. I notice Edana in the kitchen looking at me worriedly, and I realize what must have happened.

"Um, can I talk to Edana?" I say to Abrihet, who nods and goes into her room.

"So Déshawn…did you enjoy last night?" Edana is wearing a satisfied and seductive smile.

I walk over to her and put my arms around her waist with a smile. I kiss her for a second and pull back and look in her eyes, "did you?"

"You know me," she smirks. Then it disappears, "I wish I did but you were so tired that I let you get to sleep."

"Oh," I look at her disappointed look. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay, I should thank you for it really. You're just tired because you wanted to save me."

I sigh deeply as Edana lays her head on my chest breathing in unison with me. Taking the opportunity to relax her, I slow my breath down the way Janiko taught me. She copies me and I feel her almost constant trembling dissipate, smiling I lay my head on top of hers.

"What's today?" she asks me contentedly. I look down at her. "It's Sunday right?"

"Yup, the ranking fights were yesterday, so it has to be." I reason.

"I'm supposed to be training. You should join me," she says.

"I'd love to."

We both turn and leave the kitchen, with Edana ahead of me; I hold the apartment door open for her as we both head down the hall. I feel a slight wrenching in my gut that isn't related to my excitement of being with Edana, and I look up to see Dabir heading towards us. Edana doesn't even look at him, and pushes her way past him, he growls and grabs my arm pulling me to the side.

"This means you're going to stay away from Ayana?" his eyes narrowed, his vice-like grip nearly numbing my arm.

"Not sure, you must know my new ranking since I wasn't able to get to my other 2 fights. I'm going to have to get past her again." I smirk.

"I'll be your next fight, since you didn't want to fight me officially yesterday," he threatens somewhat feebly.

"Good, well I hope you have a good idea of what's going to happen to you from our little scuffle earlier." I smirk back confidently.

"I know Kale's secret." He answers turning and leaving.

"What?"

"Come on Déshawn," he turns and looks at me with a smile that tells me he's getting the last laugh. "You know how smart I am. It was only a matter of time before I got it."

"Research isn't going to save you from the wrath of a god," I clench my fist and return to join Edana.

"You think he really knows?" Edana asks worriedly.

"I could care less. I almost beat Kale yesterday, he's no different." I say heatedly.

"You might want to be careful though."

"I'll try. Not a whole lot I can do really though, can I?" I say helplessly.

"Yeah," she looks at Dabir thoughtfully, then turns and walks down the stairs.

I'm sitting on the floor of the training room watching Edana working out. Her body is glistening with sweat while she viciously attacks the punching bag that is hanging from the middle of the room. It isn't swinging at all, but it vibrates violently, shaking off dust every time one of her blows land. Then she stops panting, her arms and legs trembling visibly.

"Come here Déshawn, let's see if you can move this thing." She challenges me to give herself a break.

"Don't think I can actually, I've never really tried," I get up, a white aura exploding around me as I power up to my max.

I get in front of the bag, and take a deep breath. Then I fire off a volley of punch-kick combos at the bag, inducing a slight sway in its rigidly stationary position. I finish up with a spinning sidekick that gives it a sharp increase in movement.

"Wow not bad." She whistles.

"Thanks, have you gotten your schedule yet?" I ask her.

"No, I'll get it from Nani later." She answers. "Spar me?"

"Nah, I like watching you get sweaty more," I smirk.

"Well," she walks up to me until we're inches from each other. "If you're really that worried."

I give a sort of playful but disbelieving laugh, then open my hand on her stomach and form the weakest ki blast I can to just barely get her attention. Using the hand I have the blast in, I push her backwards across the room.

"Since you put it that way," I say advancing towards her at a slow walk.

"That's what I like to hear," she smiles getting up, shaking her head to get her hair back in place.

I stop and wait for her to be completely prepared. She shows this by rushing in at me quickly, and I duck her sudden jab. Then, reading her movements from her waist, I lean away from her hook, block her roundhouse kick, finishing off my defensive run by spinning away from her final punch. Seeing that she followed through too far with the punch, I take advantage of her being out of position and off balance by pulling her extended arm forward before she has the chance to pull back and gather herself together again. Using my back foot, which is closest to hers, I sweep her feet from under her causing her fall face first. I catch her gently around the waist before she can hit the ground, and roll her onto her back dropping her onto the ground. Then standing over her, my feet on each side of her body, I let two small ki blasts hit the ground in front of each of my toes. The resulting explosions blow me into the air backwards away from Edana who is consumed in the heat of the explosions. When the smoke clears away it reveals a slightly charred Edana with her clothes shredded. Her shirt and pants form more of a tank top and booty shorts than the original sweat pants and t-shirt she'd worn to train in. I smile with satisfaction with my handiwork.

"Ah, I like that a lot better," I say bringing her attention to what I had done.

Looking down, she realizes how she looks and matches my smile with a laugh, "it is a lot sexier huh?"

"Now you gotta get rid of my shirt," I challenge her.

She laughs and moves in almost eagerly attacking with several quick kicks, which I block easily. She spins with the force of my last block and comes back with an elbow into my stomach. I gasp slightly stunned for a second and she rises above me, skipping her opportunity to knee me in the face, and fires a large ki blast down at me. I smile at her as I nearly let the blast hit me, however, at the last second my hands snap out and block the pure energy with my bare hands. Suddenly it explodes on me and I yelp in a shocked voice. I get up painfully and blow the smoke off of my hands. She looks slightly disappointed when she sees that my shirt is completely burned away.

"I was aiming for your legs." She laughed.

"Come closer and try again," I beckon her with my finger.

A voice cuts in on our flirting just as my arms wrap around Edana's waist, "well if you two aren't going to be training maybe I can interrupt this little strip tease."

I turn to see a pompously dressed human. His fighting gi is overly decorated to give the appearance of being accomplished, but I can tell that none of the patches are from anything special. The boy himself has a rich look to him, even if he were dressed in rags. His bright blonde hair, and noticeably tanned white skin indicates that he was very well treated, as in spoiled.

"And you would be?" I ask annoyed.

"Alwalda," he gave a superfluous bow. "Alwalda Edric."

"Your father was the financial backing for this whole school wasn't he?" I answer thoughtfully.

"He was?" Edana looks surprised.

"Yes, as well as providing financial backing for many other important establishments," Alwalda smirks in a proud way.

"Not that I don't care," I fake a yawn. "But what your father pays for is just boring. So I'm going to head down to the arena. Open matches should be started by now."

"Why you-!"

I turn to leave but I sense his power spike up quickly, and I veer to the side quickly dodging his ki blast. I drop to the ground in front of him, my back facing the attacker.

"I w-wanna prove to you just how important my father is." Alwalda says to me, hesitating only for a moment.

"And I'm going to show you that your father is as pointless as laces in sandals." I answer rudely glancing over my shoulder.

He takes off quickly swinging several hooks at me. I duck under them easily, just barely ahead of the dangerous attacks. I could tell from his movements that he was strong, and he was pretty fast. I leap back lightly giving myself more of a cushion to defend myself with. I smack away his kick, used as a distraction, and palm a ki blast towards his stomach making him stop his follow up attack. He takes off away from me, heading towards my left. I sling another ki blast behind my back as he's zipping past me. The blast hits the wall in front of him causing him to stop for a second. In that semi-split-second I turn and leap on him pinning him against the wall with my left hand. While I hold him by the throat, my right hand punches his ribs, and I follow through turning the rib-punch into an elbow across his face. I float up a little and away from him, as he is staggered. I look at him for a moment, as he became reoriented, and whip a spinning hook kick across his face that slammed him into the wall off to my left. He gets up, the right side of his mouth bleeding now, and faces me, eyes full of rage.

"You know," I start as he takes off towards me again. "Maybe you can get your father to pay me to lose."

He throws a right cross into my face, sending me flying into the wall behind me. As I pull myself out of the rubble, I notice Edana standing next to it, her eyes filled with concern. The concern on her face made me mad, at the fact she felt that one hit could endanger me.

"Déshawn are you-?" she started but I cut her off.

"He's not that strong," I kept my eyes focused on my target.

"I'll show you how strong I am," Alwalda beckons me with both of his hands.

I accept his challenge by firing off two ki blasts at him, both hitting the ground next to Alwalda. He's enveloped in smoke from the explosions I caused. Having leaped into the air right as I fired off the ki blasts, his blind return fire does nothing but hit the wall that used to be behind me. I come down behind him and punch him in the kidneys with my left hand while my right hand fires another ki blast. I take off, at blazing speeds, and slide in front of the helpless Alwalda, and kick his ragdoll-like body back towards the gaining ki blast. He yells in agony as he's tossed around in a fashion likely to have broken a lesser mans neck.

"Enough." I heard a familiar voice command me. Recognizing it immediately, I stopped my vicious assault and turned to the voice.

"Master Essam," I said in a mock-surprised voice. "Me and Alwalda were just-"

"Tearing up my training room? I can see that," she waves her hand over the destruction I caused. I wince at the numerous blast-generated holes, the outline of my own body print, and the profile of Edric's body print in the walls.

"We got carried away what can I say?" I shrug and start to move past her.

"Déshawn," Essam slides in front of me to my annoyance. "If you persist engaging my students in such aggressive encounters, my still-standing proposal will become a mandatory detention."

"It's not like I started it," I defend myself.

"But you had several opportunities to leave," Essam pressed.

"You _know_ how I am," I answer her.

"That is why you should accept my offer." She responds smoothly. "Flaws are neither permanent, nor static. Especially one so volatile."

"Ah, now my personality is a problem?" I ask.

Essam's eyes turned toward Alwalda's battered figure, "it looks that way to me."

I storm into my room in a fury, noticing that Janiko wasn't in the room; I head to my room and lay down. I slow my breathing trying to calm down. _How could she just suddenly change her mind and make me accept her lessons all of a sudden? I **had **given her an excuse, but I hadn't gotten into a fight yet. Well, I guess I'd brought it on my by threatening them. Next time I'd have to make sure I actually was far enough for her to not hear it. I wonder where Edana is._

At this thought I hear a knock at the door to my room. I get up and go to the door, hoping it was Edana coming to offer me her body to calm me down; so I'm slightly disappointed to see Janiko standing in front of me.

"Edana told me what happened." Janiko says simply.

"God, why does everyone tell you stuff." I say frustrated that he'd come here to give me another lecture I had no ears for.

"Couldn't tell you." He shrugs walking in slowly, as if asking my permission. He comes all the way in when I didn't protest.

"Especially stuff about me. You hear stuff about me I don't know," I growl sitting next to him, fists balled up.

"Well, I _am _your roommate. They probly hope I'll update them on you or something." He answers.

"Do you?" I look at him suspiciously.

"Only Edana and Abrihet." He laughs.

I snort wondering if he told Abrihet because she was the team leader, or if he'd noticed something else.

"You know," he starts slowly. "You should be more thankful."

"Why does everyone keep telling me Essam is giving me some kind of special opportunity?" I respond quickly. "Nani told me that too!"

"Because we don't want to see you throw it away lightly, like you're most likely going to do. I actually think she was scared you'd tell her no, so she found an excuse to make you come." Janiko laughs.

"I didn't think of that," I stop thoughtfully.

"You know, you'll probly get stronger from the sessions." He says looking at me searchingly. As if he is anxious for my answer.

"From anger management?" I laugh. "You don't honestly believe that do you?"

"You don't know Master Essam well do you?" Janiko shakes his head. "Imagine this…If it wasn't for Master Essams training, Edana would not only have nightly seizures, but she would be about as strong as Jimiyu right now."

"You know," I laugh again. "I think I'll take her up on it."

"Well then, I guess since you really have no choice anymore, you'd best go see her Friday." Janiko said.


	6. Chapter 6

-----------------------

…If it wasn't for Master Essams training, Edana would not only have nightly seizures, but she would be about as strong as Jimiyu right now."

"You know," I laugh again. "I think I'll take her up on it."

"Well then, I guess since you really have no choice anymore, you'd best go see her Friday." Janiko said.

It was the next morning and I was heading towards the cafeteria alone. I met up with my teammates at our usual table and sat down, once again without food. I'd developed a rather annoying habit of stealing food from them, so as to save myself a trip to the breakfast lines. I sit down between Janiko and Edana. Edana and Janiko were on the outside. Samantha sat across from me and was between Abrihet and Chafulumisa.

"How are you feeling?" Abrihet looks concernedly towards Edana.

"I'm okay, thanks to Déshawn." Edana smiles gratefully.

"She even went to train yesterday." I agree.

"You both know you should have rested yesterday." Janiko says between mouthfuls of eggs.

"We did," I wink at Janiko, sliding my hand onto Abrihet's plate unsuccessfully.

"Abrihet told me," he says knowingly.

"See? I told you," I answer slightly annoyed.

"Told him what?" Abrihet sounds guilty.

"Nothing," Janiko answers turning back to his plate. I guessed he was probably feeling a little guilty that I was right about him being told everything about me.

"Have they done team rankings yet?" Chafulumisa asks changing the subject.

"All the teams aren't finalized yet," Abrihet says slapping my hand away from her bacon again. "They'll be done by the end of today."

"Good, me and Déshawn are taking us to the top!" Chafulumisa slams his fist on the table loudly to emphasize his point.

"When do team competitions start?" I ask, turning to Edana's plate after being rebuffed by Abrihet.

"Friday, I've already signed us up for one." Janiko says.

"It's before 8:30 right?" I ask.

"Yes, I took that into account," he nods.

"Good, then I'll be there." I answer.

"What's going on at 8:30?" Samantha butts in.

"Detention with Master Essam," I answer.

"What'd you do?" Abrihet joins in exasperatedly.

"She caught me fighting with Dabir twice, and Alwalda Edric outside of the arena." I say quietly, as if hoping it would make her less angry with me.

"I can understand Alwalda, I beat him up once. But why'd you scrap with Dabir?" Abrihet prods understandingly.

"He's in love with Ayana," I answer. "And, I made a comment about his mom too." I add laughing.

"Interesting," Janiko mumbles.

"Oh yeah, Janiko," I say suddenly remembering that Essam had found out about my inability to control myself in fights from him. "What'd you tell Master Essam about me?"

He was saved an answer by the P.A. system marking the near end of breakfast. Master Essam's voice floated serenely over the speakers as everyone, for what probably would be the only time, listened intently for information about classes.

"If any student has not received their schedules yet, after the announcements, please come to my office to pick up." I suddenly realized I hadn't talked to Nani about getting my schedule. "Classes will begin 1 hour after the end of breakfast, be sure to use this time getting ready for the lessons ahead. There will be 5 classes, but different teachers will teach them, at different times depending on your year. The classes are: Battle Tactics, Medical Application, Weapon/Armor Recognition, History of War, and Technologies. Everyone team will have a training session after all the classes. Each team will be given a personal trainer whom they will meet in a different Training Room, after their last class. Be sure not to miss these sessions, as many team leaders will take this time to make plans. Also, when team competitions are open, you can choose whom you will send in battle for your scheduled matches. This brings me to my last announcement of the day. Open sign-ups are now over. The teachers and I will set up the battles for the week ourselves, this is to give everyone fair matches, and so that each fighter, and team, is given an equal chance to become the top Supreme fighter in this school. Also this gives everyone a chance to become comfortable with each other's skills and powers. Good luck, and have a great day." With that the announcements clicked off and everyone began to file out of the cafeteria.

"So, where you want to go?" I ask Abrihet, who seemed to be thinking of somewhere for the team to train alone.

"Where could we talk, or train, uninterrupted?" Abrihet asks everyone.

"Off grounds," Chafulumisa snorts.

"Good idea," Samantha agrees immediately.

"I was joking," Chafulumisa laughs.

"Oh," Samantha looks slightly deflated.

"I actually like it," I say. "Otherwise, we're likely to be interrupted, probably because of some wrongdoing of mine." I laugh at this thought.

"Yeah, since you decided to go at odds with Dabir and Alwalda." Janiko scolds.

"Dabir attacked me, cause of my fight with Ayana in the arena." I defend myself. "As for Alwalda, he just caught me at a bad time."

"I don't want to take us off grounds," Abrihet said. "If team leaders are caught training with their teams off grounds, the team will be disbanded and the members randomly reassigned to teams. They don't want us receiving outside help."

"That's dumb," Edana complains. "How are we supposed to stay 'focused on the infinitesimal goal of becoming the best fighter alive'?"

"By using school equipment?" I suggest laughing.

"No wonder the goal is so infinite-smal," Chafulumisa incorrectly quotes Master Essam. "We don't have infinites-mal options available."

"I wonder if the match I signed us up for is still in effect," Janiko thinks out loud. "I wish they hadn't let me sign up then changed their minds."

"Hope not, the last thing I need before I go see Master Essam is a big match." I say.

"Big match?" Chafulumisa sounds skeptical.

"Let's just head to a training room and see if it's full," Abrihet finally relents.

As we looked through schools training room, I wondered if every single team was thinking the same as us. After going through every single training room the school had to offer we had found all of them full. So the team decided instead to relax in the lobby of the dormitories while I argued with Nani.

"Nani," I ask sitting on a bench where Edana joined me on my lap. "Do you have my schedule?"

"Not anymore, you have to see Master Essam," she answers in a friendly voice. "You shoulda asked me last time you stopped through here."

"I know you can look it up somewhere," I press. "I really don't want to talk to her right now."

"Why not? It'll probably do you some good." She laughs.

"She'll be doing plenty good for me Friday." I return fire.

"I'll have it sent to your room," Nani concedes.

"Can't you give it to me here? Classes start pretty soon," I insist to Nani's annoyance.

"Fine," Nani rolls her eyes and puts a piece of paper on top of the counter.

"That's not even right," I complain. With Edana sitting on my lap I didn't want to move.

"Just get it when you're about to leave." Nani laughs. Then she changes the subject, "why aren't you guys training?"

"Because," Abrihet eagerly pipes in, seeing an opportunity to vent. "Every training room is filled."

"Shouldn't you know that?" Janiko raises an eyebrow. "Don't you have the keys for them?"

"No, I only sign out gravitron privileges." Nani answers.

"Can we sign out a gravitron?" I ask on a sudden impulse.

"You could but a 5 minute training session would be a waste of time." She said. "Anyways I have to see your team's ranking first. Only higher ranking teams of the Upper Class and above can sign out a gravitron."

At this point the bell to signal the start of classes rang, so I stand up after Edana reluctantly slides off my lap. I walk over and grab my schedule to take a look at my first class.

"So where you headed?" Edana loops her arms around my arms.

"Ugh, history of war," I shuddered at the prospect of a boring first class.

"Good," Chafulumisa says, suddenly on my right side. "At least we have the same first class."

"I've got medical application," Edana laughs. "_I_ need to learn medical application."

"At least you know you've got it easy," I agree. Knowing of her healing abilities, added to the fact that her mom was a nurse, and her father a surgeon, her first class seemed ironic.

"Where you guys all got to go?" Chafulumisa moves off questioning the rest of the team.

I walk into the classroom with Chafulumisa and we find two desks in the back corner of the class. I suddenly found myself wishing that the rest of the team were in the class with us, as I don't recognize any of the people filtering into the room. The walls of classroom were covered with various posters depicting abstract battle scenes, and quotes from past fighters at the school that are supposed to inspire you. As the room fills up I spot, what looks like, the teacher of the class. She's laden with several books that seemed to stress her arms to a breaking point. I chuckle softly as she barely makes it to the table and drops them all with a rather loud slamming noise. She shakes her head, a pointless act as her gray hair was tied back in a bun, and walked around to her desk plainly aware of the many questioning eyes on her. She has pale skin that looked as if it had never seen a day of sunlight. Finally she turns around and faces the class after adjusting her desk for, what seems, hours.

"Good morning class," she has a light and pleasant voice. "I'm Zurina Gotzone, Mrs. Gotzone to you, and I'll be your instructor for History of War."

I lean back in my desk lightly tapping out a rhythm to myself as Mrs. Gotzone explains to the class how we should behave and as long as we did as asked there wouldn't be any conflict. Looking around the group I doubt the class would be very exciting. Several of the students fix a gaze on her that feinted interest in her words, but I could tell their eyes were glazed over, even though I was behind them. A few of the students were passing notes around in a manner that indicates a mischievous plot in the making.

"Now, time to get your books," she claps her hands together, in a manner that indicated an exciting event. In reality all it did was wake everyone up.

I file up to her desk where she's handing out thick textbooks to the class. She hands me my book and I go back to sit down next to Chafulumisa who was asleep on his desk.

"Didn't take long," I mutter to myself as I jab him in the ribs.

He wakes up startled and glares at me before he realizes why I woke him up. After the entire class had been equipped with a textbook she had us all turn to the first chapter. I decide that it was time to join my teammate and put my head down.

I jump up awake suddenly, and realize with a smirk that Chafulumisa had exacted his revenge on me by jabbing me in the ribs. I get out of my seat, grab my book, and follow him out of the classroom. As we walk down the hall, I look at my schedule to see the list of my classes and their order. My first class, I knew already, was History of War, and then I have Weapon/Armor Recognition, after that was Technologies, followed by Medical Application and Battle Tactics.

"Wow," Chafulumisa starts, yanking me out of my reverie. "That may have been the best sleep ever."

I laugh in agreement, "All I hope is that it gets better."

"The sleep?" he raises an eyebrow.

"The class," I answer.

"Oh," he laughs.

"What's the rest of your classes?" I continue with a piercing glance at his schedule, which looks disturbingly like my own.

"I've got, Medical App, Technologies, Weapons Rec, and Battle Tactics," he says scanning his own paper.

"We have 2 more classes together," I say with a smirk.

"We do?" he sounds doubtful.

"Tech, and Tactics," I explain simply.

I hear a low hum followed by a slight vibration throughout the entire school signaling it's time for us to head to the next class.

I sit down in a random seat as several people file into the classroom sitting down. Many were chatting animatedly with each other, unaware of the teacher's watchful eyes. However I noticed her when I first entered the room and currently was watching her eagle like eyes. She had a piercing look in her eyes that made me feel as if she could read your mind if you let her watch you too closely. She looked as if she had oriental origins as she stood half leaning half sitting on her desk tapping her toe impatiently.

"Come now, everyone sit down." She urged. "We don't have all day."

It seemed nobody heard her as they continued to mingle as they all chatted. However the class eventually sat down.

"I am Hisa Jun'ko. I will be your teacher for Weapons and Armor Recognition." She introduces herself.

I listen to her introduction about the class slightly interested, as this was a subject I intended to learn as it was bound to be useful.

"This class will is not about learning to recognize different weapons and armor from pictures. I know all of you are not interested in a class where you simply repeat facts back to me," she started walking around the desk. "But you will get actual experience with the weapon. You will learn general ways each type of weapon is made, you will actually get a chance to fight in the various armors, wield the different weapons, and strike the actual armor so you can learn to gauge its strength.

So," she clapped her hands together. "Who's ready to get started?"

I sat down on the couch in front of T.V. with a deep sigh. The day had been thoroughly dull leaving me feeling drained of energy. Technologies class, right after Weapon and Armor, had been thoroughly entertaining however, as I shared that class with Edana and Chafulumisa, my two favorite teammates. Class with Samantha was slightly bothersome because of her gossiping manner. But I'd found Battle Tactics the most entertaining, as it was the most interesting class, and I also shared it with Chafulumisa and Samantha. I hear the door open up as Janiko enters, but I don't look away from the school programming on the TV screen; the school television only picked up programs sponsored or made by the school so as to keep students focused whether they watched it or not.

"Hey," Janiko walks in with a bustling tone in his voice. "Get up. We've got to meet our personal trainer."

"Oops," I mutter following him quickly.

We enter the training building and quickly head to the last training room. I walk in to see Chafulumisa, Samantha, Edana, and Abrihet sitting in a semi-circle facing a fifth person. He has bronze skin, pure white eyes, and several ringlets encircle his lanky arms. He is skinnier, if possible, than Kala. He looks to be about 50 years my senior, but I can sense his power. From his 7 foot 120 pound figure, I imagine punching a blade of grass in the wind to be easier than hitting him. I can sense his power mentally. From most people his kind of power would be stifling, but his seemed to be mind freeing, as if his presence lifted a veil from my senses. I nod to him pleasantly, and sit behind Edana.

"You're late," Abrihet scolds.

"Won't happen again," I don't look her or our mentor in the eyes.

"It is understandable you should forget on the first day," our mentor's voice piped up. It seemed to vibrate the air with sagely power. "You are forgiven."

"Thanks," I finally looked up.

"My name, is Adisa Abrafo," he bows slightly to all of us. "And I shall be the personal trainer for Team Halima."

"And let me tell you," Chafulumisa pipes up eagerly. "We're the luckiest team on this planet to get him."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Trust me," he answers confidently. "You'll be hard pressed to find anyone smarter, or better at fighting than good ole Adisa."

"Thank you, Chafulumisa," he chuckles. "But that will be enough."

"You know each other?" Samantha asks.

"Oh yeah," Chafulumisa ignores Adisa's wish for him to stop. "I've known him for about five years. I even got to fight him once."

"On that note," Adisa interrupts in a stronger, not necessarily louder, voice. "I feel the need to start. We have as long as I deem necessary, but I do not feel that we should start late."

"Sorry," Chafulumisa smirks as he quiets down.

"Now for the fun part of your day," Adisa smiles as he steps to the side to reveal an odd machine that reached from the floor of the room to the ceiling. It has slightly reddish, glowing, baubles that decorates it all around, with wires that connects in intricate patterns all around it. "My own, specially designed gravity generator."

"Whoa," I feel Edana's excitement building.

"You see, not only does it create a personalized field to increase the gravitational pull on your body. But it is sort of a game in and of itself."

"How so?" Janiko's voice reveals his interest in the machine.

"I'm delighted you inquired." Adisa pulls out 6 belts, each with a red display in the middle of the buckle. "Each belt allows you to determine the pull the machine has on you."

"Is that possible?" Janiko inquires further.

"Ah," Adisa closes his eyes reminiscently for a second. "After years of research and test on Chafulumisa, I have found that it is. Each bubble on the pole is electronically connected to one of the belts. However, you six are fortunate that there are more bubbles than belts. So you have several bubbles that pertain to your personal belt, which you will be allowed to keep. The belt tells the machine what magnitude the field around your body should be, and acts a sort of homing device so that only you feel the contoured drag."

"That's amazing." I compliment amazed.

"Thank you," Adisa nods humbly. "Now, the fun part is that, this machine is interlinked into the walls which are spring loaded with various projectiles."

"I told you he's brilliant," Chafulumisa brags.

"Is that allowed?" Abrihet says as she straps on her belt. "Since these rooms are for public use."

"Actually, it is Master Essams wish that each team be assigned a personal training room. So I made numerous modifications while the classes were going." Adisa assures her. "This way, everyone is guaranteed training time when ever they wish. And so that, incidents, such as the one with Déshawn and Alwalda, are eliminated."

"I guess some good did come of that," I stand up fastening my own belt.

"Apparently," Janiko surmises.

"Now, these projectiles resemble the bubbles on the pole, whenever one hits you, it will be recorded by your belt and at the end of each exercise a count will be taken to see how well you did," Adisa moves on abruptly.

"How low you think you're gonna get?" I shoot at Chafulumisa.

"One less than you," he smirks.

"Do they go negative?" I answer back.

"You will be going for five minutes," Adisa announces. "Set your gravity."

I look down on the belt and spot 3 buttons. One increases the gravity, the other decreases it, and a third resets the tally. I press the increase button and feel my body growing heavier as several of the pole's baubles' glow increase in intensity. I continue turning it up until I feel sluggish enough to have to work hard, but able to move well enough to dodge the projectiles. I look at the pole and notice my assigned baubles' glow swirling slightly. I spot another set spinning violently, with a slightly brighter glow than mine. I look between Janiko and Chafulumisa trying to decide which one it was: the powerful Janiko or quick Chafulumisa. I give up and face Adisa who is standing in a meditative stance while waiting for everyone to finish. After a few moments his eyes open, startling me slightly, and a smile spreads over his face.

"Let us begin," he moves away from the wall and I hear a few beeps as he activates the program.


	7. Chapter 7

------------------

I look between Janiko and Chafulumisa trying to decide which one it was: the powerful Janiko or quick Chafulumisa. I give up and face Adisa who is standing in a meditative stance while waiting for everyone to finish. After a few moments his eyes open, startling me slightly, and a smile spreads over his face.

"Let us begin," he moves away from the wall and I hear a few beeps as he activates the program.

A red projectile flies at me and I move to duck it, which is infinitely easier due to the extra pull of gravity. I straighten up heavily, feeling sluggish, as I see another projectile inches away from my nose already. I spin away barely avoiding it, and come face to face with another projectile. I lean back, and instantly regret it, as the gravity causes my fall all the way down as I put myself in a position where my foundation isn't strong enough to keep my balance. Instinctively I roll over, grateful I did, as another projectile flies past me from. I push myself up shakily but quickly enough to regather myself just as I'm forced to dodge yet another projectile. By now they are flying relentlessly at our group and I hear the sounds of the projectiles making contact with someone flesh, then the ding of a count being taken.

"So," Chafulumisa walks up to me with a bragging look on his face. "How many times did you get hit?"

"2," I smirk at him. "I'm guessing you didn't get hit."

"Not directly," he scowls showing his tally of 1. "One got lucky and brushed me."

"Well," Adisa moves back in front of us with a smile. "How did everyone do?"

"I got hit about 4 times," Janiko says. "Which is surprisingly good considering my weight."

"You should try lowering it next time," Adisa advises. "Now that you know what to expect you should do better."

"I got hit a bunch," Samantha sounds angry. "I could barely move."

"You should cut your setting in half." Adisa tells her. "12 is unacceptable."

"I can tell." Samantha looks at the ground.

"Don't worry about it," Adisa smirks. "What about you Edana?"

"3," she sounds proud of herself. I even amitted I was impressed as well. "I think I'm gonna turn it up next time."

"Actually I think that's a good idea." Adisa takes her equipment. "Abrihet?"

"I got 3 too," she hands her belt to Adisa, who then looks at me.

Taking my cue I unhook my own belt and hand it to Adisa telling him simply, "2."

"Two heavy shots apparently." His eyes roam over the red mark on my cheek and left arm.

"Well I learned my lesson from them at least. Never turn your back on a massive group of projectiles, no matter how sure you are you'll be looking at them again soon enough." I say through gritted teeth.

"Indeed." He piles my belt on the rest of them. "Chafulumisa?"

"One less than Déshawn as I promised," he smirks.

"As long as you follow through on your word," he nods taking Chafulumisa's belt. "I shall adjust everyone's belts to a new minimum setting that I feel you should each have. Talk to me if you wish to have a higher or lower medium setting."

"Why are you changing the minimum setting," I ask.

"Well I feel that some of you put them too high," he glances as Samantha. Then his eyes turn towards Chafulumisa and I. "Or too low."

"Oh, yeah of course." I mumble.

"Your names will be on them so you'll know which one you are to take." Adisa tells us. "You may all go."

"Wow, that was the most intense 5 minutes of training I've ever had," Edana, who is in front of me, tells the group excitedly.

"I can give you an even more intense 5 minutes," I smirk wrapping my arms around her body seductively.

She leans her head to the side and turns to look at me, "only 5 minutes Déshawn?"

Abrihet lets a snicker escape her mouth loudly and Chafulumisa laughs openly. Surprisingly I don't hear anything from Samantha. Janiko simply smiles at the comment.

"Trust me Edana," I continue unruffled. "You'll be glad for the warm up."

"I bet you I will," Edana winks at me as we emerge from the training building into the light.

I squint my eyes against the harsh sunlight, having gotten used to the darkened room that Adisa had us training in. I had a sudden thought that it was odd I hadn't noticed how hard it was to see in the room, but I could see the logic of Adisa's methods. Chafulumisa and Samantha are holding hands whispering quietly to each other, which I find odd as Edana and I have no concerns about who hears us. As I walk with my arms around Edana thinking about the odd nature of their relationship I hear a loud scream of terror. The sound causes Edana to pull away from me and rush towards the cause of the unseen victim's fear. Chafulumisa takes off quickly to catch up with Edana in case she runs into trouble, and of course Samantha follows her. A black aura of ki explodes around me as I begin to lift off into the air, hoping it wasn't Aliikai and her brother again, but Janiko grabs me by the shoulder.

"That scream didn't indicate an attack, it indicate something startling lying around. The danger is long gone." he told me.

"You're right," I let my aura dissipate. "But what could cause a battle trained fighter to scream like that?"

"Maybe she's new," Abrihet suggests.

"The people recruited to this school already have battle experience though." Janiko explains as we calmly follow our team to the large crowd that had already gathered.

"Well I think we can rule out a threatening note at least," I answer sarcastically.

We arrive at the crowd, to see a few of the shorter people floating in the air to investigate. A murmur of horror seemed to ripple through the crowd at low volumes. I see Master Essam sprinting towards the source of commotion causing all the students to quickly become scarce, until all that were left around the horrifying site are members of Team Halima.

"What's going on?" I ask Abrihet who is kneeling with Edana next the paled, ashen faced, student.

"He's dead," she tells me. "I don't know how."

"His ki," Edana says with a wide eyed look of fear on her face. "His ki is gone."

"That's because he's dead," Chafulumisa said. "So of course his ki would-"

"No," Master Essam interrupted him. "There would still be a faint ki signature. Somehow, somebody has killed young Edric by stealing his ki."


	8. Chapter 8

----------------

"He's dead," she tells me. "I don't know how."

"His ki," Edana says with a wide-eyed look of fear on her face. "His ki is gone."

"That's because he's dead," Chafulumisa pipes up. "So of course his ki would-"

"No," Master Essam interrupts. "There would still be a faint ki signature. Somehow, somebody has killed young Edric by stealing his ki."

"What did you say?" I hear Adisa's sagely voice from behind me.

"Somebody, killed him by stealing his ki." Master Essam repeats with a grim voice.

"All students are to return to their dorm rooms until further notice. Nobody is to leave for **any** reason at all. You may call each other, but absolutely NO visits will be permitted until we have assured the school premises are safe." Master Essam's voice permeates throughout the entire school.

"So," Janiko stretches out on the single 2-person couch in front of the T.V. "Who did it?"

I close my eyes for a moment making sure I had no doubts about who committed the murder, "It was either Dabir, or Aliikai and Kale."

"I can see Aliikai and Kale, but Dabir?" Janiko's voice is skeptical but sounds accepting.

"He told me that he'd discovered Kale's secret earlier yesterday," I explain.

"You sure that he's using, or used, it though?" Janiko asks. "Maybe he just knows it?"

"Doesn't sound very Dabir-like though," I muse. "As long as I've been at odds with him, every bit of information he's come across he's used for some ulterior goal of his."

I sense a power passing outside the door, leaping from my chair that is lined up perpendicularly next to the couch Janiko was resting on, I look out the peep hole and spot Dabir walking past our room. I open the door quietly, and slide out into the hall.

"Was that you or Kale?" I growl angrily.

"Déshawn I promise you, that was not me." Dabir answers.

"I'm probably going to be blamed for this, just because I'd had a fight with him earlier," I reason. "Only the people in this school knew that."

"Maybe it's a coincidence," Dabir spins to face me. "You know me though, I'm not stupid enough to kill a student."

"I suggest you hurry to your room," I accept his reasoning. "You wouldn't want to be caught out here."

"I was trying to track down the fluctuating power I'd sensed. It was a mix of Edric's ki, and somebody else's." Dabir tells me. "And don't worry, as long as that kid's been out, the killer could have been long gone."

"But he stuck around," I thought out loud.

"Maybe he wanted a graveyard?" Dabir feeds my brainstorm.

I close the door and move back into the room, plopping back into my chair exhaustedly. "Dende I hate Monday's."

"Especially this one," Janiko agrees.

"You know, I didn't like Alwalda, but I didn't want him dead," I mumble.

"So what was that beating you gave him indicative of? A warning?" Janiko points out roughly.

I head into the bedroom without another word and lay down on the bed, when the phone decides to ring. I pick up the receiver, with my eyes still closed, and put it to my ear.

"What you need?" I greet the unknown calling.

"Hey," Edana's voice floats nervously into my ear.

"You all right," I ask sleepily.

"I can't stop shaking, so Abrihet told me to call you," she admits fairly easily.

"I don't blame you, I find that if I lie down without moving, I don't shake at all." I offer, a little rudely.

"Are you okay?" Edana suddenly prods. "You seem a little worse off than me. In a bit more aggressive manner I might add."

"I'm probably going to be blamed for this," I explain. "I didn't like him anyways."

"Well did you want him dead?" Edana asks.

"I suppose not. But Janiko said something that confused me about my intentions though." I say thinking back to his comment about my fight with the snob.

"About your fight with him?" Edana reasons easily.

"Yeah," I confirm with a mumble.

"You weren't exactly gentle with me either," Edana points out. "That's the nature of combat."

"Yeah, but you like it rough," I laugh back. "Edric seemed kind of frail."

"That's why you took his challenge so personally," Edana responds, but something about the last word made me sit up.

A moment of epiphany passes through me, and I realize what drove me on after I had clearly won a battle. "You're right." I speak slowly. "That makes perfect sense."

"Of course," Edana brags for a second. "What do you mean?"

"You know why I'm really here right?" I ask Edana.

"It's not to get powerful is it?"

"Back where I used to live, my mom and I didn't get along. To the point that if we had been married, we probably would have had the most violent divorce ever on court records." I begin to explain. "Well, one night, things escalated to the point that I discovered exactly how much power I had."

"Oh Kami," Edana's breathless response showed that she was predicting the direction of my story.

"My mother struck me, and I think something in me snapped. Ki just started to pour off of me, and about 5 powerful waves hit her with a force I haven't been able to reproduce since. It crushed her sternum, fractured the front of her skull, collapsed her abdomen and intestines, and turned her kneecaps into crumbs just about," I shudder recalling the liquid reminiscent body I had produced. "I have never, or would ever have, struck her. I just couldn't control the power that was coming off of me. After I realized what I had done, I took off at top speed through the air, not even sure how I knew how to fly. And you can guess who found me."

"Master Essam," Edana finishes, her breathing still mysteriously slow.

"Master Essam," I repeat affirmatively. "The anger, power, and anguish I was holding in just came out of me."

"Kami Déshawn," Edana spoke after a moment of silence.

"I attacked her too, not with my ki, but my fists," I explain ashamed. "She was so calm in the face of my confession that I swung at her. And I didn't stop when I hit her the first time, but I followed up for a while."

"Did you hurt her?" Edana asks suddenly worried that I had overpowered the woman.

"Thankfully no. But she proceeded to beat me senseless," I laugh at the memory. "She turned every reckless swing, rush, and very thought into some way to damage me. In fact, the harder I tried the worse she beat me. After I lost consciousness she brought me here and I was forced to attend as a student."

"So, she's like your foster mother?" Edana realizes.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you go live with your…" I don't hear her last words as a flash of a horrifying memory went through my mind at the exact same moment Edana spoke the word "father". The image of a broken ribs splintering out of my father's side as blood sprayed my young face, causing me to physically flinch.

"Déshawn?" Edana notices my silence.

"He's dead," I say carefully steadying my voice.

"I suppose that's a story for another time," Edana doesn't press me for details.

"I don't think I'll ever tell of his death, even if I tracked down his killer and brought him to justice." I confess honestly.

The P.A. system comes back on, and Master Essams voice begins to float throughout the entire academy's grounds. Edana and I quickly tell each other our goodbyes and hang the phone up.

"The school has been secured with a satisfactory evidence to suggest the killer has left the school grounds. Students are allowed to spend the rest of their day as they please, except in the arena, until tomorrow," I groaned at Master Essams announcement that we still had to attend class. "But I beg of you all to be careful. Alwalda Edric was not the most powerful being on this planet, but he was indeed a formidable opponent. The fact that his body shows no sign of a battle prior to his death suggests that a very powerful murderer is loose right now, and is not to be taken lightly."

"I disagree," I tell Janiko as Master Essam turns of the P.A.

"I'm not sure I do," he challenges.

"Even if he was taken down with a single blow or technique, his body would show damage. I think the killer snuck up behind him with the device, possibly while Alwalda was distracted." I explain. "A sure sign of cowardice, or possibly even fear."

"But this killer doesn't want to be discovered, which would entitle the use of stealth and cunning. Hence the sneak attack," Janiko argues back, to my disgust, with a much more convincing point of view. "I think this is the start of a series of killings and the killer is after students individually."

"You know, at first I thought this was Dabir putting Kale's secret to use, but how would killing a student help make him stronger?" I say. "It doesn't even involve a workout, which is pretty much what he would need to excel."

"Hmm, you could be right." Janiko's voice clouds over as he, as I have dubbed it, dives off the deep end of his mind to think things more thoroughly through.

"I'm going to go talk to Master Essam." I stand after a moment of waiting for Janiko's explanation. I finally decided that it wasn't going to come.

"On purpose?" Janiko sounds surprised.

"I think so," I pause for a moment. "Yeah, I want to talk to her."

"You know, I've always wondered why she takes such a special interest in you. I know she took Edana in because of her seizures, and I often consult with her, vice versa on the rare occasion, but Master Essam seems more taken with you than with anyone else." Janiko sounds his, seemingly, only lack of knowledge.

"She believes you can always find out the most about a person in combat with them." I explain; subconsciously taking a cryptic approach that Essam liked to use. "She had the pleasure of fighting me the one time I wasn't completely composed. I guess my personality came through in all kinds of missed blows."

"She's not too far off," Janiko says. "She just makes it sound like more of a perfected are than it truly is."

"Well, she has me down pretty accurately; at least I think so. It's hard to understand her a lot of the time," I trail off in remembrance of her last metaphor. "I'll talk with you later."

Walking down the hallway I let my mind wander aimlessly. I reach the bottom of the stairs, and spot Nani in conversation with some boy who seems completely enthralled with the attractive secretary. He seems to be in the act of trying to convince her to watch him fight, I suppose in an attempt to impress her. I smile to myself; even I can't argue with someone who wants to fight. Apparently she doesn't think he's going to be much of a show in the arena, but is letting him know in only a joking manner.

"I've looked your rank up, you're just now climbing your way past the Middle class." Nani is smiling in a hard-to-get, but seductive way. Looking her over, I couldn't blame the boy for trying so hard to woo her. If I wasn't so infatuated with Edana, I might have tried to date Nani.

"Considering my time here, I would have to say that's not too bad." The boy counters truthfully. I had gotten a head start because of when I'd arrived with Master Essam because she had to get the school ready; I had taken the opportunity to do nothing but train, and try to recover from the mental trauma I'd caused myself. The end resulted with me being a lot more powerful than most of the new students.

"Speaking of which," I intrude rudely on a personal curiosity. "I haven't dropped too low since my, unavailability yesterday have it?"

"Déshawn," Nani gave me a glare of unappreciation at my appearance. It seemed I was wrong at her lack of interest in the boy. "You're lucky you're not the strongest starter this school has ever seen."

"Who did I miss my fight with?" I asked, shocked I was so deep into the lower class.

"You're actually just at the low end of the middle class, but you were supposed to fight Dabir, and Jerek." Nani indicated the boy she was talking to with a jerk of her head.

I turn to look at Jerek fully for the first time, and notice him looking at me with incredulous amusement. Jerek has short, neatly cut blonde hair, blue eyes, and a better than average physique, even if barely. He's wearing an all black gi with a white belt around his waist that indicates he has been into fighting for a decent amount of time.

"You're the one who was supposed to fight me yesterday?" Jerek lets out an appreciative laugh.

"I got tied up saving someone," I shrug uninterestedly. "Don't worry, I'll fight you this Saturday."

"Why wait that long?" he challenges, squaring his shoulders at me.

"Déshawn just go somewhere," Nani breathes out exasperatedly. "Please."

"Nani, I wasn't even going to fight him," I turn to her angrily. "Are you sure you should be trying to get upset with me?"

"Déshawn, everyone here knows how you are." She mumbles.

"Better than me apparently." I shoot back, truly hurt by her unusually cruel words, and move around Jerek to go find Master Essam before I get into another fight and upset her more.

"There's no kidnappers around now," Jerek says without turning around, ignoring Nani's pleas to stop. "What's the hold up this time?"

"Jerek, you should listen to Nani. I think she likes you, and she's trying to keep you around for a while." I growl with clenched fists, already upset at Nani.

"No Jerek…"

"I'm not Alwalda," I hear from only a couple of feet behind me. "My ki isn't that easy to suck out of me."

I spin around, stopping a halfway cocked right fist from slamming in the arrogant boys face. I lower it slowly, realizing he hadn't even flinched at the prospect of such a vicious attack.

"I'm going to talk to Master Essam," I explain. "I don't need another lecture from her."

I hear a scoff from Jerek, and unclench my fists slightly painfully from the nails having dug into my skin. As soon as I step outside the dormitory building, I let my power rise up in a physical display of my recent anger. With a yell of frustration my black aura explodes around me and I let off an enormous ki blast into the sky. The power of which seems to suck away my very aura, as it disappears the moment I fire off the attack due to a lack of energy to maintain my powered up state. Crossing the courtyard on shaky legs, I enter the Academy's main building, noticing a few scattered students in the cafeteria just to my right; I turn left into the Learning Area. Following the familiar ki that was so easy for me to track, I find Master Essam in her office. I knock on the door hesitantly, wondering exactly why I had come to her in the first place.

"_What do I have to say to her?" _I think, feeling awkward as Master Essam opened the door.

"Déshawn, your arrival is like the fish in a seagulls already full mouth." She smiles gently down at me. "Please come in."

"What?" I ask for a moment, and then I think about the meaning. "Oh, thanks."

"I can tell something is troubling you." Master Essam speaks, sitting at her desk. "Something almost as great as what brought you to me?"

"I feel dumb coming down here," I admit, plopping down in the chair across from her desk. "I don't know what I can expect you to even do."

"What do you need to have done that I can't do?" she questions in a wordier than needed manner.

"Edana said something to me, about pride, that I think may be a root for my…aggressiveness." I pause trying to think of a big word that Master Essam might have used herself. "I think that I have a problem with being proud."

"Déshawn you have more potential than any being I've previously encountered. The night that I met you, had you been focused, and using your power with more purpose I probably would not have survived," Master Essam spoke after a moment to consider my words. "Your power is difficult for you to tap into, and it's like an accelerated form of adrenaline for you. Adrenaline is like an unaddictive, but natural, drug I feel."

"I don't follow you."

"When a normal person gets a rush of adrenaline, most of the times they enjoy it because it makes them feel powerful. When you get into battle, your body slowly releases your potential as the need to survive increases, which is the exact nature of adrenaline." She smiles as she speaks of science with the wisdom and tone that would indicate she was telling me something mystical. "By the time you have gotten even a quarter of your potential out, most of your opposition is probably incapacitated, but you want to keep that rush of power. So…"

"I keep going."

"Exactly," she nods sagely. "It's not an out of control situation for you, but merely an antagonistic problem for anyone that you can defeat in battle."

"So, how do I keep my head in battle?" I ask her, finally understanding why I can't seem to control myself.

"You must learn to harness your power at will. When you can call upon that adrenaline at will, you no longer crave it, and will be able to not only control yourself better," Master Essam pauses, and leans forward to rest her forearms on the desk. "But you will improve far beyond any rate you are improving at now."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," I speak slowly. In truth I want nothing more than to unleash the powers she speaks of me having, but I'm afraid that I might just become powerful and still have no control over myself.

"You must trust me Déshawn," Master Essam leans back in her chair.

"I'll be here Friday." I stand up and turn around suddenly curious. "Why is the arena closed off?"

"There are no scheduled fights, and the sweep team is still finishing up there. You wish to fight someone?" she asks reading my question.

"Jerek has suddenly," I pause for a moment, choosing my words carefully. "Begun to pester me because Aliikai and Kale canceled our fight."

"Go check with the agency and see if they're done. Have them report to me if they are, and I will allow open matches again." She smiles. "And be careful, for the sake of those you care about."

"Thank you Master Essam," I say, as I'm halfway out of the doorway. "I don't tell you this enough, but I truly do appreciate everything you have done, and do, for me."

"And I, for you."


	9. Chapter 9

"Go check with the agency and see if they're done. Have them report to me if they are, and I will allow open matches again." She smiles. "And be careful, for the sake of those you care about."

"Thank you Master Essam," I say, as I'm halfway out of the doorway. "I don't tell you this enough, but I truly do appreciate everything you have done, and do, for me."

"And I, for you."

I gathered my energy for a moment and took off towards the arena, soaring through the air at high speeds. Reaching it a few moments later, I skidded to a stop and landed in the middle of the arena. I turned to see about a dozen men with guns trained on me, each with a startled look. Realizing I was a student they slowly lowered their weapons and one of the detectives finally spoke.

"What are you doing here? Master Essam said no arena matches." He said, tiredly.

"Well, she wanted me to see if you all had finished up. If you were then you are to report to her." I explain with a slight laugh in my voice.

The same man sighed again rubbed his temple with both hands, "yes I suppose if we haven't gotten anything yet we won't for a while."

"Okay, well you can finish packing up here, I'll let her know," I tell them.

"Thanks kid," the man nods gratefully.

After a quick trip back to Master Essam's office, I was now camped out in the middle of the Academy's arena. Knowing what is coming, I calmly wait for Jerek to show up at the arena with his challenges. Sitting in a meditative posture, I don't actively relax my mind, choosing instead to let it take whatever course seemed best. It took only a few moments before I sense the power of two beings. The weaker one I tag as Nani Moana's, who seems to be trailing Jerek either accepting his invitation, or trying to convince him not to fight me.

"Nani," I speak before either of them addresses me; my eyes still fastened shut. "This is a school of combat, stop trying to save him. He knows what he's getting into."

"So you managed to get the arena opened again," Jerek circles me. "Not bad."

"You seemed so eager to provoke me," I stand up. "Now I'll gladly hit you."

"Let's wait," Jerek adopts a mockery of my previous posture. "I want the school to see this."

"What happened to not waiting?" I cock my head to the side. "It won't take that many people to carry you off of the arena."

"Let's wait for some more people to come down here," he remains stubbornly sitting.

My anger grows with the few passing moments that I wait for Master Essams announcement while Jerek arrogantly watches me. My aura slowly creeps into existence as a symbol of my frustration.

"Jerek, you have 1 minute. Then you'll either fight me or die," I tell him as I turn to face the academy.

The P.A. system rings out the words I expected, and over the next few moment's people filtered out to the arena. The chatter seems to take a noticeable rise as they see the three of us already at the arena. Even more odd was Nani's rare appearance from behind her desk. I think to myself how marked this battle will probably become with Nani watching it.

"You got into another fight?" Edana asks me wrapping her arms around my body and resting her head on my back as she only comes up to my shoulder blades.

"Do you see me fighting?" I twist my head, meeting her lips with my own briefly.

"You've been out here since before the announcement, you got the arena opened up for a reason." Edana reasons to me.

"I took it easy on Alwalda," I explain simply.

"I don't know if I should let you do this," Edana walks around to my chest and looks me in the eye concerned about my violent indications.

"This boy needs to learn he is not cause for fear," I look past Edana at Jerek stretching.

"Fight smart," I hear Janiko's deep voice as he pulls Edana's shoulder so that she is no longer between Jerek and me.

"Now that your girlfriend is out of the way," Jerek strikes a fighting pose.

"It's not too late to reconcile with me," I advise him.

He whips a ki blast at my chest for his response. I make an x in front of my body with my arms, rather than let it fly and hit the oncoming audience.

"So be it," my voice drops to a dark tone.

My power suddenly rockets up as I power up to my max, a black aura once again exploding around me, a cloud of dust swirling around me showing just how much power I'd called upon.

"It's amazing that Kale didn't kill you on contact," Jerek taunts.

I mildly register just how widespread the story of Saturday's events were, when Jerek suddenly takes off at me, his elbow poised for my nose. I fire off a simple ki blast at the ground between the two of us then sidestep the reckless blow, as Jerek had hurtled headlong through the dust and dirt that blocked his vision. As soon as he's next to me, his head turns in shock that he'd missed by such a small margin and Jerek mistakenly slows his speed so that he can turn and attack me again, but I palm a ki blast into his side and blow him away from me. His impact with the arena surface seems to cause more damage than the small amount of ki I had just inflicted upon him from such a point blank range. The crowd's audible "ooh" satisfies me and Jerek slowly sits up, his back in obvious pain.

"Aren't you glad I missed our match yesterday?" I start to walk over towards the struggling fighter. "I would have put more effort into since it would have mattered if I won or not."

Jerek launches another ki blast before I cover even half of the distance between us, which I slap away with a smirk at his already desperate measures. Then I feel a sharp sting at the base of my head as I sense a power approach me from behind, and my eyes get wide as I feel the heat of his ki blast on the back of my neck again. I turn just in time to catch a ball of energy directly into my chest, and I'm tossed to the side as I had been hit from a slight angle.

"Note to self," I mutter rising to face the other fighter who was now standing. "Destroy all his ki attacks for good measure."

"Was that a prayer to Kami you're mumbling?"

I begin to sit up, and Jerek moves in strongly, forcing me back to the ground with a knee to the chest. I slide backwards a couple of feet as he pounces quickly planting a fist into my nose and another one into my right side. Feeling the damage to the ribs, I yell in pain, the crowds chattering rising even greater at the prospect I could possibly lose the fight. He stands up, and aims a kick at my head, but I catch it on pure reflex. Then, I consciously rejoin the fight and my mind begins to make the decisions again. I roll away from Jerek's body pulling his foot with me; the result rolls his ankle painfully forward before yanking the fighter forward and face first into the arena. I stand up quickly, and hold a palm down at the fighter. With a roar of vengeance I release a ki ball into his back and the explosion shakes the ground slightly, engulfing the two of us in dirt and dust. The shroud clears to reveal Jerek rushing at me again. Waiting calmly, my aura pulsating with my power, I drop into a fighting stance. I lean to the left to dodge his initial punch, but having thrown his right fist on purpose Jerek reacts perfectly. He bends his arm so that his elbow snaps out into my right temple, which ends up knocking me off balance more than causing damage. However, off-balance was all he aimed for, and he comes through with a right knee into my stomach and twists back slamming a vicious left fist into my head. My body suddenly rockets away from Jerek's blow, my eyes rolling unfocused in my head as I'm lifted off of my feet. I land on my back heavily, and darkness clouds my vision. I feel the blood dripping from my mouth and wipe it off rather clumsily. My body finally rolls to a stop and Jerek is suddenly over me again.

"Kami seems to have ignored your pleas." He sneers before kicking me in the ribs again.

An indistinguishable noise of pain escapes my lips but it's cut off abruptly by bolt of ki to the face. Now the noise of pain becomes a clear roar of agony as the heat of his blast lightly cooks my body. As soon as the attack subsides, I quickly jump to my feet in preparation for another assault. Jerek throws a ki blast, which I decimate with my own, but he's suddenly back on me with another round of combos. I smirk as I dodge to the left and right avoiding his first two punches. I lean back, avoiding his uppercut, and Jerek drops his elbow back down aiming at my head. I move slightly to the right and let him drop it into my shoulder minimizing the damage I take. Then I fly up just high enough to toss Jerek into the air and I drop back to the ground. The boy's eyes get wide in sudden fear as his body drifts back towards the ground, and I realize that Jerek can't fly. I press my wrists together, fingers spreading out to the left and right, and I fire off a beam of ki that catches my opponent in the chest just before he hits the ground, shooting him towards the edge of the arena. I slowly work my over to my prey, noticing the sounds of my teams cheers of encouragement, and sit back down in the meditation position I'd been in before the fight had begun. I let my mind wrap itself around the power I now felt flowing freely through my body. Rather than try to enhance or unlock it any further, out of self-fear more than anything, I simply embrace the feeling as I watch Jerek stagger his way back to his feet. He yells in anger and humiliation and takes off to attack me again. Deciding to make his inability to fly a blatant weakness, I fire a ki blast at his feet as soon as he's about 7 feet in front of me. He jumps over it easily, and I suddenly launch myself to my feet planting an uppercut into his stomach, raising him even higher into the air. I step under Jerek's free-falling figure and spin into a whipping backflip, planting my foot into his back and slamming him face down into the ground. The sounds of the shocked reaction from the crowd spur me into my next move. I grab Jerek's collar and pull him onto his feet for a moment, then I use a squat thrust to toss him into the air. Then I let off another ki beam into his stomach. But instead of it detonating on contact, I let it carry him into the air before I stop feeding it energy. The final explosion tosses Jerek's limp form a little higher into the air, and then he begins to fall from the almost 15 feet in the air. I step under him and cock my fist back for an uppercut aimed at his open spine. A sharp intake of breath is clearly audible from the crowd, but I step back at the last second and let him crash into the ground. The final slam into the ground finally knocks Jerek out, and I walk off of the arena, letting my aura dissipate.

"Well, how'd I do?" I ask Janiko as I reach my team with a satisfied smile.

"You finally held back," Samantha speaks the obvious.

"Good or bad?" I don't even bother to attack her comment.

"Let better suffice," I hear a serene voice behind me. "This definitely shows promise for our meeting Friday."


	10. Chapter 10

"Well, how'd I do?" I ask Janiko as I reach my team with a satisfied smile.

"You finally held back," Samantha speaks the obvious.

"Good or bad?" I don't even bother to attack her comment.

"Let better suffice," I hear a serene voice behind me. "This definitely shows promise for our meeting Friday."

Edana and I begin to walk, arms around each other, back towards the dormitory. As we pass Nani she opens her mouth to speak and whether it's an apology or not, I don't care. I whip my hand up, my arm sliding off of Edana, and my palm flattens towards Nani. Energy begins to glow into existence and Nani's sweet voice disappears in pure fear.

"You don't know me," I growl.

"Déshawn!" Edana roughly pulls my arm away.

I grab Edana by her shirt, which is tricky because of her low neckline, and push her back out of the way.

"Déshawn…" Nani ventures after finding her voice. "I didn't mean it really."

"Oh come on Nani," I roll my eyes. "I don't have to be a Namek on the Lookout Tower to know that you meant every word."

"Déshawn, I'm sorry. It just slipped out."

"The last time I said that," I lower my hand and energy level. "It was because I was trying to hide the truth."

I turn and continue my trek across the courtyard into the dormitories. As soon as I enter the housing building, I explode into a rocketing flight towards my shared room. As I turn to go upstairs I have to come a screeching halt, after almost running over a shocked female. A glance at her silky silvery and white hair tells me who it is.

"Ayana, your hair changed." I spit out the first thing on my mind.

"Yes, I felt I needed a little renovation. Much like my body after you finished with me." She responds. I'm not sure if her tone is angry, accepting, or merely reflection. But the sarcasm is difficult to miss.

"Sometimes I wonder where Jimiyu was when that happened," I let out the small seed of doubt subtly.

"Don't worry about it," Ayana quickly defends her stepbrother.

"As you wish," I make a motion as if I'm about to go around her. Then something crosses my mind. "So I guess he's going to try and have me killed again?"

"That's none of your concern either."

Moving on I finally sidestep Ayana and head up the stairway. Upon reaching the room I gratefully leap into my bed and let my head plop onto the pillow, ready to drift off into a well-deserved sleep. Then the phone suddenly rings sharply. I rip the cord out of the back of the phone with a snapping of my wrist and pull the pillow and covers over my head and body, respectively.

"Kami I hate Mondays."

In History of War we were learning about the different reasons a war might start.

"Déshawn give me a reason you would fight someone." Mrs. Gotzone suddenly questions, bringing me out of my stupor.

"They asked me to," I respond, slightly sarcastic.

"That hardly seems like a cause for a war," she presses. "Give me a real reason."

"I don't know, if someone challenges me to a war I can't say no. They'll just attack anyways," I say with a smirk, earning a snicker from a few of the students.

"Very well," she resigns and moves on. She writes the known causes for a war on the board, and everyone begins to scribble them down in their notes.

I glance at them with a yawn and begin to memorize them.

"Déshawn," I hear someone whisper off to my left.

Turning I see a girl with pretty blue eyes, black hair, and light brown skin looking at me with interest. It's difficult to tell how tall she is, or how thick or thin her body is because she's sitting down.

"What?" I answer.

"Are you going out with that girl?" she asks.

The question was weird, it didn't really seem like her business, and I was tempted to firmly inform her of that but I settled with, "there's a lot of girls in this school."

"Are you going out with all of them?" her eyes get wide, as if she interpreted the statement to mean I dated all of them. I'd really responded like that because I wanted her to clarify the girl she was talking about.

I turn back to the board and look over the last of the causes of war because I found the girl to be completely idiotic.

"Are you?" she presses.

"I'm going to kill you," I say matter-of-factly.

"You always say that."

"Who are you to assume what I 'always say'?" I turn back to her.

"Rebecca Jenson."

"Okay Rebecca, I'll play along," I sigh condescendingly. "What girl are you talking about?"

"Edana," she prods verbally.

"You didn't hear about Saturday?" I say turning back to the board hoping that the conversation was over.

"No I didn't."

"Do you two have something to say to the class?" Mrs. Gotzone interrupts in a genuinely interested voice.

"No Mrs. Got-" Rebecca begins to speak before I cut her off.

"I was asking her if the causes of war were the only ones so far. There don't seem to be a lot of them." I lie quickly.

"Well Déshawn these are what the 'experts' have decided. But perhaps you have a reason, better than an invitation, to begin a war," Mrs. Gotzone now earns a few laughs on my behalf.

I smirk, "I wouldn't have asked if I did."

"Now tell me," Mrs. Jun'ko questioned me as I wore the armor. "What is this armor designed against?"

The black and silver steel protection that was weighing me down, much like Adisa's machine had, is designed to prevent any kind of penetrative attacks. I answer Mrs. Jun'ko's answer brilliantly explaining how it's convexing curve blocks and redirects any head-on attacks.

"Very good," Jun'ko answers. "How best do you beat this kind of protection?"

"Don't hit it?" Samantha suggests.

The class laughs appreciatively, and Jun'ko looks at Samantha with piercing eyes.

"And what is your name?"

"Samantha," comes the answer and I smirk at her. While Samantha's nosiness always annoyed me, and I usually end up arguing with her, I could always appreciate her blatant disrespect for authority.

"I suppose you have a last name also," Jun'ko seems extremely angry at her answer, which had really been made seriously.

"Well, I have a name behind my first one," Samantha folds her arms defiantly.

"Talitha," someone shouts out her last name, earning a glare that would have bothered me.

"Well Miss Talitha, if you cannot answer me the proper way to break through the defensive capabilities of this armor, I'm sure you can research and have me an essay on it by tomorrow," Jun'ko tells Samantha.

"Slashing motions," I whisper under my breath to her.

"Just don't hit it head on," Samantha paraphrases. "Use a slashing motion or something indirect."

"Good," Jun'ko sounds disappointed Samantha got out of the paper. "And I'll thank you to keep smart mouthed comments to yourself."

"I'll give you something to keep to yourself," Samantha answers in what she hoped was a quiet voice.

"Miss Talitha!" and Samantha feigns surprise at the realization that Mrs. Jun'ko hears the comment. "I think you need to have a visit with Master Essam!"

The roar of laughter from class as Samantha stalked out angrily could barely be contained in the classroom, even with the doors shut.

Chafulumisa and Edana are laughing out loud outside the classroom doors as we stand next to the class waiting for the bell to ring. I'm retelling the story of Samantha's altercation in Weapon and Armor Recognition class.

"Kami, it was funny," I hold my stomach in laughter. "Chafulu you should have been there."

The bell rings and the three of us step into the class and take our seats in the rear, with me between Chafulumisa and Edana. The squat, white haired, wide-eyed, and high-voiced man, who goes by Mr. Jorn, walks from around his desk.

"During the beginnings of reaching out to space with new traveling technologies we ran into a serious problem." His voice carries easily through the classroom. "A lot of our soldiers lost battles because they couldn't tell if they should be fighting it. Now who here has an idea of how they cured the problem?"

"Answer it Edana," I urge her with a smirk. "You know all about cures."  
Edana sticks her tongue out at me and raises her hand.

"Yes Miss Adan?" Mr. Jorn had somehow memorized the names of all his students the same day he'd met all of his classes, which was just another testament to his brilliant mind.

"Scouters?"

"Exactly!" Mr. Jorn snaps his fingers enthusiastically. He pulls out a large box, and begins to pass back different colored scouters to each student. "And today we will be learning about its more intimate workings, rather than the mundane cliché of measuring a persons power."

I looked over the red lense of my scouter, and attached it to my left ear with a smirk. "Can we keep these?"  
"That's the idea," Mr. Jorn smiles at me. "From now until you no longer want it, these scouters are yours."

Inside the dimly lit gravity room, the tall, dark, and thin Adisa Abrafo is handing out the gravity belts, which have been modified to suit its owner. Taking my belt, I strap it to my waist, securing it safely, then activate it to get a feel for how much resistance he put on it. The sudden weight nearly drags me to my knees, as a sixth of the baubles on the generator light up and swirl at a fairly high rate.

"Okay, 15 minutes." Comes the deep, time-marked voice.

As the rest of the baubles light up, Adisa slides out of the way; about to activate the program when suddenly he pauses. Edana somehow picks up on his sudden hesitation and her face falls as well.

"No…" her voice is barely a whisper.

"What?" Chafulumisa asks, impatient to start training.

"Somebody else died," she says, her voice barely changing.

"How do you know?" I ask moving towards her, deactivating my belt.

"Yes, I've been tracking the different ki's in the school. One just disappeared." Edana explains. "Well, it blended into another one to be more accurate. And it's heading towards the dorms!"

"Edana, Chafulu come with me!" I order suddenly blasting off out of the room, determined to intercept the perpetrator.

As the three of us burst out of the training section that's placed behind the arena, we spot a large, light skinned figure speeding across the courtyard.

"DABIR!" I let out a roar of anger and blast off towards his large form.

Realizing I'd spotted him, he pauses for a second just as I crash into him, my impact carrying us up against the wall of the dorms. I swing a fist into his face, knocking him backwards several feet.

"What are you thinking!?" He yells at me in confusion after barely ducking a follow up ki blast.

Chafulumisa quickly grabs me, restraining my fury for a moment, as Edana steps between us and questions the lump of muscle.

"Dabir, what are you doing out here?" she asks, her voice a determinedly calm tone.

"I'm late for our personal training with our mentor. He doesn't like tardiness." He explains in a bewildered and worried voice.

"You liar!" I roar as ki blazes into existence on my fists. Knowing that Dabir is nearly incapable of such confusion and fear only serves to fuel my anger that he's blatantly lying to a woman I care so much for. "Let me go Chafulu, I'm going to disintegrate him!"

"Déshawn stop! You can't prove him wrong." He growls, flexing harder to contain me.

"Let me fight him. You'll see what I mean," my mind finally begins to work again through the haze of anger. "The killer has been absorbing the ki of his, or her, victims and it makes them stronger. I'll tell you if Dabir is stronger or not."

Dabir's eyes lock with mine at this announcement, not with the phony look of bewilderment or fear he had given me before, but a look of pure wrath that nearly halted my plan to attack him. However, as soon as Chafulumisa's grip on me loosened I barreled towards the large alien with both fists cocked. He sidestepped me simply and fired a blazing round of ki that tore into my ribs and threw me across the courtyard. I growled and flipped to my feet as a black aura exploded around me as I gathered my power.

"Déshawn stop this second!" I hear the serene, but sharp, voice of Master Essam.

"It's him Master Essam, nobody is stopping me for punishing him!" I say, as my power rockets. "Not even you."

"We shall see." Is her simple answer and she steps between Dabir and me in a protective manner.

"Who was it Dabir?" I yell at him. "Who'd you kill this time?"  
"What are you roaring at me about?" comes the dumb answer.

"Master Essam," my voice turns to one of more pleading. "Please move."

A white battle aura explodes around my surrogate mother as her simple response and I growl before I blast off, aiming to move around her while knowing I was going to be intercepted. She spins, slamming a back fist into my face tossing me backwards. I land on my back with a grunt of pain having sacrificed bracing my landing in favor of extending my arms towards the pleased looking Dabir and I let off several hundred blasts of ki at him and his protector. The explosions shake the school and throw dust and dirt into the air, clouding my vision. As it all clears up, I see Master Essam inside a protective bubble of ki, barely seeming fazed by my willingness to attack her. I stand up, slower this time, as my anger calms and I relent my attack and let my aura dissipate.

"Fine, handle it your way."  
"Good, I have better ways of investigation." Master Essam smiles kindly. "We'll continue this in a few days."


	11. Chapter 11

Two days had passed since my attack on Dabir in the courtyard, and only one student had been attacked since then. And I thanked Kami every moment since the attack that she had survived. Edana had been coming to class yesterday and I felt her ki shoot up in anticipation of a battle. It was fortunate that I had been scanning for her energizing yet centering presence, for when I went outside I found her lying on the ground. Kami must have been watching out for me because the shrouded figure had not finished the horrifying deed and fled instead. I hadn't bothered giving chase, choosing rather to make sure Edana was going to survive.

The first thing I notice when I walk into the main academy building is the hallway leading to the hospital, which has become Edana's new place of residence. This time I don't get to visit her unconscious body, and I make a left heading into the classroom area. After nearly a week of navigating through the school I had learned the way, and soon found myself entering Master Essam's office.

"Tell me Déshawn," Master Essam was sitting at her desk expectantly. And I had arrived exactly on time. "Are you sure that you do not fear the power within you. If you have one inkling of doubt, I'll have to train you to suppress your potential for you will not be able to control it with fear in your heart."

"Master Essam, whoever did this has hospitalized Edana." I walk into the middle of her office, a black aura of battle exploding around me as my anger rises. "I crave nothing more than to bring out my power, so I can get my hands on whoever did this to her!"

"Then you should know what you truly are." Master Essam gets up and walks calmly around the desk. "I have hidden this from you for too long, but I have known it since the first punch you threw at me."

"You don't mean 'who' do you?" my aura fades as confusion takes over.

"You're not from this planet," she looks me in the eyes steadily at this revelation. I can almost feel the denial rising before something else replaces it, and my shoulders relax as if I'd tensed up for a physical attack: relief.

"Your ancestors come from a planet called Vegeta, which housed a brutal race called the Sayjins. This is what you are, a Sayjin. Most Sayjins have a tail as their most identifying feature, but I had to…remove yours." She explains. "You see, when a Sayjin looks at the full moon he transforms into a huge ape-like monster. The night you attacked me, after I'd knocked you out the first time, you awoke that night only to look at the full moon and you transformed. The only way to take you back out of that form was to kill you, destroy the moon, or cut off your tail."

"I'm glad you chose the latter," come my first words since her announcement.

"Well it wasn't easy but I managed to bring you back." She smiles a bit as if the memory tickled her before she continues her explanation. "Sayjins are a proud race which explains why you get so…riled…when challenged. They base their principals, goals, government, values, morals, and even mating rituals around combat and dominance."

"That does define a lot of my past experiences for me," I say leaning against the wall as if the information tired me out. "And brings me to reconciliation with many of my poor choices."

"Anyways, the planet Vegeta was run by King Vegeta but he was eventually lorded over by a changeling named Frieza. This changeling was the most powerful figure in the universe for a long time, and he made the Sayjins wipe out planets so that they could be auctioned off to the highest bidder." Master Essam began, and I could almost see where the story was headed.

"I bet they didn't like that. A race of proud fighters being used as planet janitors."

"You've just made the understatement of the millennium. Of course they couldn't really do anything because anyone who challenged him was killed before they even got to fight with Frieza. This changeling was so powerful he could destroy planets at the wave of his hand," she paused for a moment as my disbelief set in. "Or so the legend says."

"No wonder it's legend, to destroy a planet so easily is impossible." I say in shock.

"Well, that's what happened to the planet Vegeta."

"It was destroyed?" I feel my hopes of visiting my true home crushed.

"Yes, well you see there is another story, this time amongst the Sayjins. They say that every one thousand years a Sayjin is born, who has astounding power and strength. They say that this Sayjin eventually ascends to the level of the Legendary Super Sayjin, and his power is unsurpassed by any sentient force in existence." She explains.

"Which of course scared Frieza out of his bowels."

"And he destroyed the planet in an attempt to stop any possibility of him being overthrown." She bows her head in mourning. "Of course, when the rumor of his plans to destroy the Sayjins got out, several of parents tried to send their children off of the planet in a desperate attempt to save them."

"And I'm one of the few who survived…" I slide to the ground in despair.

"My research leads me to believe that you are one of 3 pure blooded Sayjins who survived the devastating attack." She explains solemnly.

I stand up determination now burning in my body more than ever.

"Master Essam, you're the only mother I've every truly known. The only person I've felt a connection to, as true family. Even Edana can't claim that part of my heart. But I want to find this monster that killed my entire race and ancestors!" I clench my fists with this pronouncement.

"Déshawn, he could destroy entire planets…"

"And he still feared my people. He was truly a weakling in the end, and I will break him with my own hands! Right after I track down this coward that decided to try and attack this school." I flex my entire body as another aura explodes around me, although I try to suppress my power a bit so as to keep Master Essam's office in tact. "So let's get started."

My mind is an anxious entity. This training that Master Essam has devised for me goes against every instinct it's learned from years of existence. She's making me wait. Plain and simple, with absolutely no reason, waiting.

"Déshawn your mind isn't clear," Master Essam lightly reminds me. And again I swear that she can read my thoughts. "You must remain completely focused on one goal, and with as turbulent a past as yours, it will prove to be one of your greatest challenges, but most rewarding."

Not bothering to answer her, I clear my mind once again and focus on trying to feel out my surroundings through my mind.

"Are you ready?" She asks.

I give her a silent nod and she places a thick black bandana around my eyes effectively blinding me. Then she fastens the special belt, that Adisa customized for me, around my waist and I walk to, what I hoped, was the middle of Team Halima's training room and waited. A moment passes and I hear a snapping sound surround me. I quickly realize that it was the panels in the wall opening so that I couldn't hear where the attack would come from, and I tense my body in preparation. Suddenly I feel something plushy but firm slam into the back of my head forcing it forward in a snapping motion.

"You're not focusing Déshawn. Clear your mind of the inevitable distractions and think only of your obstacles."

Nodding silently I expand my aura to fill the entire room, which turned out to be a smart move as I sensed something press through from the rear. However my reaction was too late as I'd hesitated in amazement that I'd sensed it coming, and I was rewarded with another smack to the back of the head.

"Are they all coming from the back?" I growl to myself.

Then I feel another one coming from the back-left side of my body. I lean my head slightly to the right and hear the whizzing of the foam ball past my ear.

"Good!" comes the praise.

Feeling one head straight towards my face, I twist to the left just as I sense another one coming from behind me. Dropping my height slightly I quickly duck the next offending foam ball. And snap back up to my height, only to feel two more attack from either side of my body. I take a step back and the balls slam into each other and I feel another aimed for the back of my knees. A backflip neutralizes its "threat" and I suddenly feel something smaller and faster moving enter my aura and I catch it out of curiosity. Feeling its rough, hard surface I turn my head blindly towards Master Essam.

"Rocks?" I ask.

"Speed up," comes the simple reply.

I soon realize she intends to test my limits.

Lying on my bed without a shirt I grimaced Abrihet laid the final ice pack on my back. There was a hiss as the frozen liquid meets with the hot blood seeping from my body, and I would have bet the Lookout Tower that steam was probably pouring off of it.

"So, I guess that your training went well," she says.

"I know you have a problem with me pushing myself, but these things can't be helped," I intercept her line of comments.

"Pushing yourself is great, but your recovery time tends to overshadow your workout availability." Edana scolds gently.

"I'll be back in another half hour. I have to be, tomorrow we have the first scheduled matches of the year, and the team fights are on Sunday." I inform her.

"Oh yeah, can't forget about the important stuff lest we get caught up in concerns about your health."

"Exactly." Comes my firm answer. "How's Edana?"

"Well, she's gonna live for two reasons only." Abrihet's sigh sounded tired from the emotional stress I knew she was going through. Between me running the gauntlet of Dabir, Aliikai, Kale, Master Essam's training, and Edana's near death experience, I knew she had already put up with a lot more than she should have to already. "The first reason is that her natural healing abilities also work to repair her body. But the main reason is you sensed her in trouble."

"Well that would be thanks to Samantha. I only try and locate Edana's essence when I need to focus my mind, and she was distracting me from whatever it was that I had been doing." I say. "I guess it's true what I say: 'Luck favors those in my favor'"

"When have you said this?" I can almost see Abrihet's eyebrow rise, even though I'm lying on my stomach.

"From now on," I smirk.

My mind was on fire. It felt as if my logic functions had shut down, and my brain was simply operating on pure instinct and the need to survive. Right now, every instinct built into my cerebrum was being tested. To a bystander, seeing someone almost completely tear the strongest person you know in two with a single blow should give a child very little problem making a decision. But a child of Sayjin descent had better priorities than to live: vengeance being the most upstanding of them. As my father's blood poured off of my face, and rage boiled, almost painfully, in my veins, a man of unspeakable proportions was steadily stomping towards me. I drew myself up to my full, even if modest, height and let out a yell of anguish. Energy was pouring off of my young body in waves and, to my luck, pushed the large man away. But my actual power seemed unable to pass a certain point, the point I knew I must pass if I were to gather the energy needed to destroy this demon. But my age, size, or generally low power kept my body from reaching that point, and my power was contained.

I felt a sudden spike of ki and my eyes snapped open preparing to defend myself. As my vision came to me, I see Janiko's large form standing over me holding a ki blast in my face. I can feel the heat pouring off of it and roll out of bed quickly, landing on the ground in a pushup position. I flip onto my feet and turn to see the ki ball still waiting for me, still aimed at my face. Thinking about my training session with Master Essam, my shoulders relax as I realize that she'd sent him to test my reflexes. Her words of "a true Sayjin could fight his way out of bed" ringing momentarily in my mind as I turned out of the bedroom and walk into the kitchen.

"She told me to start letting it go after the first 5 times," Janiko tells me as he walks out of my room.

"Do it next time," I pour myself a glass of water. "I'll learn faster."

"I prefer Master Essam's way." He declines.

"Why are you always up before me?"

"You slept in, tired from training I suppose. Matches start now, you have a one on one fight." Janiko calmly tells me.

If he said anything else, it was lost in my split-second trip from the room to the top of the stairs. I zipped down the stairs in the air, past the now forgotten Nani, and out into the courtyard where I hear the echo of Master Essam calling my name against a Ray Treal. I land in the ring and shake my head to try and rid myself of cobwebs from being fresh out of bed. Ray is an average looking fighter. Lean, lightly colored skin, with white hair and blue eyes that seem to plaster his face with a hard stare. I roll my neck as the crowd bubbles up in the anticipating excitement of the next match, or possibly the excitement of the match before mine, it didn't matter to me. I was just focused on my current target and observing his movements. He was shaking his limbs out, bouncing on the balls of his feet, so I assumed him to be a quick fighter. From the way he was hopping on his feet, my guess was that he was a fast kicker, but then again, he was shaking his wrists out with a particular focus also...

"Ready?" Master Essam's voice pushes into my unsure thoughts. "Fight!"

He simply stood his ground, waiting patiently, still shaking out his wrists and bouncing on the balls of his feet as it nothing had changed. Wondering whether this was a ploy or he truly hadn't heard the loud shout, I let off a ball of ki at his body. His mid-section curves out to the side as he twists his body to only move what was necessary for him to avoid the attack. Then he went right back to what he was doing. Annoyed I move in cautiously and swing a right cross at his jaw. Leaning under the punch he lifts the opposite leg and slams it into my face, snapping my head backwards painfully. Then he twists his mid-section awkwardly again and manages a flip forward kicking me with the leg he'd had on the ground, and follows up with his leading foot again. I fly backwards and slam into the ground, my mind reeling from the blows he'd landed almost as much as I was dazed by HOW he'd landed them. The sheer defiance of physical limits he'd just exhibited caught me completely off-guard. Shaking my head as I stood up, I cleared my mind and remembered Master Essam's advice when the first rock had hit me: "A wise fighter is never impressed, and rarely repeats movements." He rotated his body through the air on a vertical axis as he launched another unorthodox attack at me. Smirking because I'd realized why Master Essam had chosen this fighter to go against me, I decided to use impressive attacks too. As his body spun towards me, I dipped low and slammed an uppercut into his mid-section, tossing him backwards and up a couple of yards. As he was dropping back towards the ground, I let a ki blast loose into his falling body, throwing him across the white fighting ring.

"Not limber enough huh?" I taunt as I stalk towards the downed student.

A black aura of ki explodes around my body, as I extend my mental aura so I can sense any movements in his body and can respond appropriately. I feel him breathing heavier; at least I'd supposed that as his upper body was expanding wider. How wrong I was. He twists his head towards me letting a beam of ki fly from his mouth. In my astonishment that he'd found yet another way to impress me, I catch the full brunt of the attack and get thrown across the ring also. Laughing, Ray bounces to his feet quickly, as if I'd never damaged him in the first place and rushes over slamming a foot into my ribs, tossing me further across the ring. I yell in pain as I slam into the ring again. Growling, I get back to my feet, as he aim's another kick at my face. I whip my head to the right, dodging the blow, and pound my fist into his stomach. Then spinning, I snap a back fist across his face, following up with an elbow to his face again. Leaning into a back stance, I cup my hands for a moment before I rock forward and thrust a beam of ki into his chest. He yells as the beam pushes him for a moment, then detonates in a fiery explosion that chars the ring's surface and burns Ray Treal's chest.

"Done playing possum?" I taunt again, this time readying myself for another quick move from the tricky fighter.

This time he simply leaps into our battle with gusto, and the fight reaches new heights of ferocity as we exchange hundreds of blows in mere seconds. He seems to be able to twist his body at points where nobody else would be able to turn. I soon learn to anticipate his attacks and as he ducks a cross from me, I open my palm and let a ki blast fly down on top of him, blowing him face down into the arena. I step on his back and press down hard as I zip into the air. And then I cut loose with everything I have. Ki blasts fly from my hands at blinding speeds as I pound him into the ground repeatedly. Then it all halts for a moment as I gather a substantial amount of energy to myself again. And with a last yell a huge blast of energy whipped into the back of Ray, whose energy finally withdrew as he lost consciousness.

"And Déshawn is the winner!"

I drop to the ground and let my energy level drop to its normal level as I see Team Halima cheering for me. I quickly float over towards them and between Edana and Samantha.

"And the next fighters are…Darren Kalil of Team Larson and Chafulumisa Adofo of Team Halima. Please report to the ring immediately."


	12. Chapter 12

Darren was usually a calm type of fighter, but he wasn't up against just any opponent. It took focus nearly beyond Janiko's caliber to stay calm when you were in a battle with Chafulumisa. Sometimes, I wonder if I was the only fighter he ever took seriously enough to not put all his energy into humiliating. Darren had burned himself out within the first few minutes of the fight, and still Chafulumisa continued to play, taunting Darren into trying to hit him. Darren met the challenged by throwing a vicious punch at Chafulumisa, who leaped backwards easily avoiding yet another attack.

"He's too uncreative," I say out loud. "You can't hit Chafulu with such orthodox attacks. No matter how fast you swing."

It continued, back and forth for several minutes until Darren had finally either given up or was so angry that he just threw everything he had left into a final blast. It was mere child play for Chafulumisa to leap into the air over the blast, and then he finally focused for on the fight and tore off at Darren. He slammed a dozen punches into his face before Darren had even registered that the blast missed. Then he leapt into a spinning kick at his face, tossing Darren's body backwards. He waited for a second, then let loose a wave of energy that finally thrust the weaker fighter into unconsciousness. Essam Maysa barely got time to announce Chafulumisa's victory before the ground began to rumble violently. Cracks spread across the surface of the arena and the stands began to break as the students poured out of it. I floated up into the air as I felt the air vibrate with a power that suddenly exploded from underground through the arena. The blast fills the air with dirt and dust, as well as throwing Chafulumisa and Darren's unconscious body through the air. Whipping my arm out, I use a gust of ki to push away the dust, revealing three figures. One of whom I didn't expect to see.

Standing more to the back of the group, bodyguard-style formation, was Aliikai this time dressed in a black, leather, form-fitting bodysuit and Kale, in a full black gi with an orange belt tied around it. But in front of the two is a shorter, bulky light skinned fighter, with only a pair of black sweatpants on and an orange headband. The smirk that Dabir is wearing from the surprise he's caused enrages me as I realize what he's about to say, even before he opens his mouth.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Even Master Essam seems caught off-guard by the interruption, and as such her voice portrays the anger she usually keeps in check.

"This, Master Essam, is between Déshawn and myself. The meaning? It's a concept Déshawn should understand very well…Revenge."

"You want revenge Dabir? Fine!" I yell in anger and land on the ground in front of him, staying between Master Essam and the academy students.

Suddenly I hear a grunting as Kale had flown back into the hole in the ground they came from, and lifted up a machine. I hear Master Essam suck in a fearful breath, and I looked at her in confusion as to why she would be so afraid of a simple piece of metal. At least, it looked simple enough. The back of the machine was mountable, and the rest looked like a turreted gun. I had a small inkling of how powerful Essam Maysa was and a turret gun should have caused her nothing but amusement. _So this…gun…must have some kind of amazing surprise hidden behind it._

"Dabir! Tell me you have not been using this on my students!" Essam demands suddenly.

But a change has come over Dabir. His entire personality, indeed, the very nature of his tone seems to be tinted with a dark desire; a dark desire for blood. "No, Master Essam. Your students are not worthy. I've been using it…on me."

"What?" I yell my surprise out loud by accident.

"You see this machine is powered by the life force of another being, a life force that binds all living things together. A life force true fighters would call ki." Dabir began, walking in a slow path that took him in front of the barrel of the turret. "But the effects of this machine are well worth the trouble of filling it. For you see, when hit by this turret the target's power rises enormously."

"What does that have to do with my students?" Essam demands and I flinch a little, having never seen her this angry ever before.

"Like I said it's a trouble filling it, however Aliikai has a unique talent that allows me to restore the machines power, since it's brother that normally would have done that has been lost to the ravages of time…" Dabir trailed off sinisterly. "Aliikai, would you mind terribly showing them."

A slight smirk crossed her face and white energy exploded around her as she gathered her power to herself. Even as the wind was kicked up, and pebbles were thrown about as Aliikai powered up, I noticed Kale hop into the seat of the machine and pull a switch. The barrel seemed to the change shape and it now looked more like an input hole than an output one. With a shock of horror I realized he was about to use it on someone. I flex my arms getting prepared to stop them when Aliikai finishes her power up and makes a slicing motion at me with her arm and a ribbon of white energy is whipped off of her hand and flies towards me. I sneer and cock my hand back preparing to slap the pitiful "talent" away.

"Wait…no! Déshawn don't touch it!" Essam suddenly yell's as if she knows what the attack will do.

I look at her dumbfounded for a moment then turn to react, but the attack is moving too fast and I have no time but to close my eyes and try to block it. I hear it hit, but don't feel the pain, or even any contact. Looking up I see that Essam had dove in front of me to take the attack instead. I hear a gasp of shock flow through the students and look at my surrogate mother. She seemed caught in mid-flight and appears to have stopped moving completely, except a white bubble that seems to have preserved her last movement now surrounds her.

"You monster! Release her!" I growl flexing my arms angrily.

"Very well," Kale's deep voice rumbles in amusement.

Then the turret fires and my eye go wide as my stomach drops in horror. Then I react hoping that I wouldn't be too slow to save her. I moved fast. The beam moved faster. But Chafulumisa moved the fastest. Chafulumisa suddenly blurred into view so fast I hadn't even seen him shift to move. _Kami! He's quicker then I ever thought!_ Chafulumisa threw out a blast of energy to try and push the beam back at the turret but energy was what the beam was looking for. And it simply absorbed the blast then continued moving forward even faster. The beam hits Chafulumisa who was stunned his counterattack hadn't worked, and he's violated in the same manner I had been when Ayana began to absorb my ki. _This is the same fate that Alwalda had suffered and Edana almost died from…Edana…NO!_

"STOP!" I yell and take off planning to hit Kale so hard his was taken clean off of his shoulders.

My plan worked in on aspect, and failed miserably in the other. I did manage to distract Kale enough to stop sucking the life out of my friend, but only because he swiveled the gun towards and my ki was soon being drawn out of my body. The pain was so intense it felt as if every nerve ending in my body had been placed on a hot iron. I yelled in agony falling to my knees, my mind suffering too much to form a rational thought to mount a defense for myself. Chafulumisa was passed out on the ground, and Essam was still trapped by Aliikai's ribbon of power. Soon I heard an uproar start behind me, and the beam suddenly was deactivated and taken off of my body. I realize that all the students had finally come out of the shock and attacked Dabir, Aliikai and Kale. Rocking back and forth on all fours as I fought back the darkness clouding my vision I noticed an energy spike behind me. Turning around shakily, even as my vision swam, I spotted a tall, stringy shadow behind me, with purple energy glowing on his hands. I realized that Kala was going to sneak attack them. I push myself up to one knee, then finally onto my feet and take off, but I knew deep inside that I was going to be way too slow.

"HAAA!!!" Kala roars letting off the massive just as everyone, including my team, realizes the trap they were just lured into.

The purple beam whips towards them all and I fall back to my knees, from the pain, exhaustion and in defeat realizing that they were surely doomed. Suddenly a green bolt of energy slams into the head of Kala's attack and it's forced off course, instead choosing to smash into the stands that had once been filled completely and blow them up. Turning quickly I see Edana standing in the direction the beam had come from with a smirk on her face. She quickly zips over to me and picks me up gently.

"Edana…" I groan in pain as I try to warn her. "Watch out…for that gun…don't counter it…stay away…from…"

"It's okay," she says confidently. "I know all about it."

Edana's hands begin to glow and I can feel my energy reserves being filled back up. My strength gradually returns and my senses become sharper again. Standing up I roll my neck, which emits several loud pops, and I flex my arms to see how much of my strength is back.

"Kami that feels good," I say.

"How sweet," I hear Kala sneer even as the battle raged on behind him. "You've just convenienced me."

"I'm going to send you back to the shadow's that birthed you," I growl angrily as a black battle aura explodes around me.

Kala's face shifts in the same manner as Dabir's did, turning to one filled with dark desires for death, and he begins to power up. Panicking, I look around and notice that Kale has gotten hold of several students with the gun as Aliikai seems to be freezing them faster than they can attack. _KAMI! That gun must feed energy to Kala and Dabir! And it's driving them insane!_

"Edana, the turret." I say simply as Kala's power jumps beyond even mine.

"Taking it out," she responds in a businesslike tone.

Then Kala zaps forward; punching a footprint into the ground from the sheer force he pushed off with, and slams a fist into my face. I yell in pain as I'm sent rocketing backwards. He'd moved so fast I hadn't even gotten to form a plan to counter with.

"I'll give you this. You're a lot better than Jimi." I sneer as I wipe blood from the corner of my mouth.

"Better than Jimi? That's an insult to me! I'm beyond the level of any fighter in this school!"

I simply snap into a fighting stance and challenge him with a beckoning gesture. With an angry battle cry he takes off at me again. This time I'm ready for him and slam a ki blast into his chest stopping him in his tracks. But that's all this accomplished. In fact it seemed to do so little to him that it appeared he'd stopped on purpose. Then Kala raises his palm towards me and lets off an even bigger bolt of energy, from about 5 feet in front of me. Yelping in surprise I leap to the right dodging it barely, and feeling the soles of my shoes melting slightly from the sheer heat of the blast being so close to them. As I roll to my feet Kala's instantly on me slamming another punch into my face, comboing it with a knee to the stomach doubling me over. Lifting the same leg he smashes his knee into my face, breaking my nose and causing blood to flow freely from it, before he finishes off by slamming a rising hook into my stomach that launches me into the air. Dizzy again, for the second time in 5 minutes, I reel from the pain while holding my nose as gravity takes control of my body again. The pain begins to subside a little until I feel Kala's foot connect with my ribs right before I hit the ground. The force of the blow snaps completely through one and cracking the two near it, almost pushing the broken rib into my lung. I hit the ground a lot quicker this time since he'd kicked me laterally and not up into the air. I roll painfully for several meters and push myself up to my feet slowly.

"I'm not gonna last long if I keep this up." I mutter to myself.

Glancing at Edana's progress with the turret I flinch as she barely dodges one of Aliikai's ribbons and backflips away from another sweep from Kale.

"And neither will Edana," I add grimly.

Grimacing I raise my hands as Kala walks calmly towards me, all the confidence in the world. Then I cut loose letting of loads upon loads of ki blasts at Kala. His eyes register a slight surprise as he leans backwards dodging the first one. Then his body seems to become a blade of grass in the wind as he nimbly dodges every single attack I throw at him. I stop, breathing heavily from the loss of energy and the effort I put into it.

"Not good enough!" Kala laughs.

Then he tears off towards me again aiming an uppercut at my jaw. I leap to the side quickly and slam a roundhouse into his stomach. He doubles over, slightly surprised I'd hit him finally and I capitalize on it beautifully. I slam my right elbow into his forehead, pushing his face back up and leaping into the air slightly. Adding power and gaining the proper leverage as I lace my hands together and smash him in the base of his skull stunning him momentarily. Following up viciously I turn my back to his back and slide my leg between his while wrapping my arms around the front of his throat. Leaning forward so that his feet are off the ground and I'm in complete control of his body, I pull on Kala's throat, swinging his body in a wide arc and launching him into the air with a choke-throw. Growling as my eyes narrow in a predatory expression I launch myself after him. Pulling level with his flying form I swing an axe-handle at his torso, intending to drill him into the ground. Then Kala's dazed eyes suddenly snap back into focus and I realize I was chasing a possum. He jabs me in the stomach quickly, interrupting my plans and spins punching me in the stomach even harder, throwing me backwards through the air. I was surprised more than damaged and recover quickly as he pursues me. This time it's his turn to be caught off-guard as I flip higher into the air just as he reaches me, and he looks up trying to keep track of me. As soon as his head is turned up enough to sight me again Kala finds himself looking right into a blast of blue energy as I slam it down into his face from above. This time there was no playing possum as he skyrockets back towards the ground. Wasting no mercy on the alien, I take off after him and pummeling him with fist after fist into his stomach before finishing off with a heavy hook in the face that doubles his speed towards the ground. The resulting headfirst collision snaps his neck brutally as the last of the light fades from Kala's eyes. Landing quickly I check his vitals to make sure he wasn't fooling with me again before moving on. Turning towards the massive battle I watch in horror as Aliikai let's off an enormous white ribbon that wraps up all of the students and I shake my head with a smirk.

"How were all of you that dumb?"

I watch as Edana rises above the group, as a ki shield dissipates from around her body and she dives in at Aliikai with her fists cocked.

"Ok, now how do I free Essam and the rest of the students?" I ponder out loud.

"Trust me, they're stuck their until my sister sets them free."

Whipping around to face the deep baritone resounding from behind me, I realized that the deadly gun had stopped firing. As soon as Kale's massive body comes into my view, I feel one of the hardest punches ever smash against the temple of my skull. My eyes glaze over as I blurrily notice Kale's figure rushing in at me viciously. I cross my arms and brace myself, until I realized that he stopped. Pulling myself to my feet again, I shake my head to try and clear the cobwebs out of it. Then, looking in horror, I realize that Kale's growing bigger. His body seems to be absorbing all the power he's sapped from the various victims during their foolish attack. Growling a black aura explodes around my body and I yell powering up completely in preparation for a painful fight. By the time Kale's finished gathering all of his stolen energy his frame seems to have expanded to be at least 8 feet tall. Looking up at the massive fighter, he instantly opens his mouth and lets off a blisteringly hot beam of ki at me. But my match with Ray had prepared me for such a wild move and I zipped to the right quickly avoiding the attack, even as the heat burned the left arm off of my shirt, and leaving my skin toasted as well. Leaping into the battle with ferocity I slam several fists into Kale's face and body but he takes them with relatively little pain. Then he strikes back and we begin to trade blows at astounding rates as I fight circles around Kale dodging most of his blows easily, and landing a lot of my own hits. But even at the speeds I'm fighting I realize that I'm not hurting Kale any significant amount, and even the attacks that I block manage to bruise my arms. Realizing the losing battle that I'm fighting I break the engagement and float backwards as Kale rushes forward to press the attack. Pressing into the ground hard with my right leg I leap forward slamming my right elbow and knee into his throat and stomach at the same time finally hurting Kale for real this time. He roars in pain as he holds his throat while doubling over at the same time and I take advantage of him being on all fours. Lifting my left leg as I turn and plant a reverse 180 axe-kick in Kale's spine, and he snaps back up trying to roar in pain. But his collapsed windpipe only allows some semblance of a gurgling whine and he rolls over pathetically. I hold an open palm of Kale's body as black energy glows on my hand for a moment and his eyes grow wide in fear. Then I let the energy fade and take off into the air floating towards where Aliikai and Edana are battling. I lob a ki blast over my shoulder and it slams into the downed Kale consuming him in destructive energy, his gurgled yell of agony swallowed up by the roar of the explosion.

"2 down," I say to myself, my breath coming in ragged gasps. "Now where did Dabir get to?"

Not getting an answer, I continued my "limp" through the air towards Edana's fight with Aliikai. I see the two exchanging blows in mid-air and they seem completely unconcerned with protecting themselves as all of their punches and kicks land easily neither of them giving an inch. Suddenly I hear a hum of energy and spin around in panic looking for the turreted gun and I see Dabir evilly sitting in the seat, with the beam aimed at the petrified students, with Master Essam in the very front.

"DABIR! NOOO!!!" I roar in a fury and blast off towards him, a black battle aura exploding around me.


	13. Chapter 13

Darren was usually a calm type of fighter, but he wasn't up against just any opponent. It took focus nearly beyond Janiko's caliber to stay calm when you were in a battle with Chafulumisa. Sometimes, I wonder if I was the only fighter he ever took seriously enough to not put all his energy into humiliating. Darren had burned himself out within the first few minutes of the fight, and still Chafulumisa continued to play, taunting Darren into trying to hit him. Darren met the challenged by throwing a vicious punch at Chafulumisa, who leaped backwards easily avoiding yet another attack.

"He's too uncreative," I say out loud. "You can't hit Chafulu with such orthodox attacks. No matter how fast you swing."

It continued, back and forth for several minutes until Darren had finally either given up or was so angry that he just threw everything he had left into a final blast. It was mere child play for Chafulumisa to leap into the air over the blast, and then he finally focused for on the fight and tore off at Darren. He slammed a dozen punches into his face before Darren had even registered that the blast missed. Then he leapt into a spinning kick at his face, tossing Darren's body backwards. He waited for a second, then let loose a wave of energy that finally thrust the weaker fighter into unconsciousness. Essam Maysa barely got time to announce Chafulumisa's victory before the ground began to rumble violently. Cracks spread across the surface of the arena and the stands began to break as the students poured out of it. I floated up into the air as I felt the air vibrate with a power that suddenly exploded from underground through the arena. The blast fills the air with dirt and dust, as well as throwing Chafulumisa and Darren's unconscious body through the air. Whipping my arm out, I use a gust of ki to push away the dust, revealing three figures. One of whom I didn't expect to see.

Standing more to the back of the group, bodyguard-style formation, was Aliikai this time dressed in a black, leather, form-fitting bodysuit and Kale, in a full black gi with an orange belt tied around it. But in front of the two is a shorter, bulky light skinned fighter, with only a pair of black sweatpants on and an orange headband. The smirk that Dabir is wearing from the surprise he's caused enrages me as I realize what he's about to say, even before he opens his mouth.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Even Master Essam seems caught off-guard by the interruption, and as such her voice portrays the anger she usually keeps in check.

"This, Master Essam, is between Déshawn and myself. The meaning? It's a concept Déshawn should understand very well…Revenge."

"You want revenge Dabir? Fine!" I yell in anger and land on the ground in front of him, staying between Master Essam and the academy students.

Suddenly I hear a grunting as Kale had flown back into the hole in the ground they came from, and lifted up a machine. I hear Master Essam suck in a fearful breath, and I looked at her in confusion as to why she would be so afraid of a simple piece of metal. At least, it looked simple enough. The back of the machine was mountable, and the rest looked like a turreted gun. I had a small inkling of how powerful Essam Maysa was and a turret gun should have caused her nothing but amusement. _So this…gun…must have some kind of amazing surprise hidden behind it._

"Dabir! Tell me you have not been using this on my students!" Essam demands suddenly.

But a change has come over Dabir. His entire personality, indeed, the very nature of his tone seems to be tinted with a dark desire; a dark desire for blood. "No, Master Essam. Your students are not worthy. I've been using it…on me."

"What?" I yell my surprise out loud by accident.

"You see this machine is powered by the life force of another being, a life force that binds all living things together. A life force true fighters would call ki." Dabir began, walking in a slow path that took him in front of the barrel of the turret. "But the effects of this machine are well worth the trouble of filling it. For you see, when hit by this turret the target's power rises enormously."

"What does that have to do with my students?" Essam demands and I flinch a little, having never seen her this angry ever before.

"Like I said it's a trouble filling it, however Aliikai has a unique talent that allows me to restore the machines power, since it's brother that normally would have done that has been lost to the ravages of time…" Dabir trailed off sinisterly. "Aliikai, would you mind terribly showing them."

A slight smirk crossed her face and white energy exploded around her as she gathered her power to herself. Even as the wind was kicked up, and pebbles were thrown about as Aliikai powered up, I noticed Kale hop into the seat of the machine and pull a switch. The barrel seemed to the change shape and it now looked more like an input hole than an output one. With a shock of horror I realized he was about to use it on someone. I flex my arms getting prepared to stop them when Aliikai finishes her power up and makes a slicing motion at me with her arm and a ribbon of white energy is whipped off of her hand and flies towards me. I sneer and cock my hand back preparing to slap the pitiful "talent" away.

"Wait…no! Déshawn don't touch it!" Essam suddenly yell's as if she knows what the attack will do.

I look at her dumbfounded for a moment then turn to react, but the attack is moving too fast and I have no time but to close my eyes and try to block it. I hear it hit, but don't feel the pain, or even any contact. Looking up I see that Essam had dove in front of me to take the attack instead. I hear a gasp of shock flow through the students and look at my surrogate mother. She seemed caught in mid-flight and appears to have stopped moving completely, except a white bubble that seems to have preserved her last movement now surrounds her.

"You monster! Release her!" I growl flexing my arms angrily.

"Very well," Kale's deep voice rumbles in amusement.

Then the turret fires and my eye go wide as my stomach drops in horror. Then I react hoping that I wouldn't be too slow to save her. I moved fast. The beam moved faster. But Chafulumisa moved the fastest. Chafulumisa suddenly blurred into view so fast I hadn't even seen him shift to move. _Kami! He's quicker then I ever thought!_ Chafulumisa threw out a blast of energy to try and push the beam back at the turret but energy was what the beam was looking for. And it simply absorbed the blast then continued moving forward even faster. The beam hits Chafulumisa who was stunned his counterattack hadn't worked, and he's violated in the same manner I had been when Ayana began to absorb my ki. _This is the same fate that Alwalda had suffered and Edana almost died from…Edana…NO!_

"STOP!" I yell and take off planning to hit Kale so hard his was taken clean off of his shoulders.

My plan worked in on aspect, and failed miserably in the other. I did manage to distract Kale enough to stop sucking the life out of my friend, but only because he swiveled the gun towards and my ki was soon being drawn out of my body. The pain was so intense it felt as if every nerve ending in my body had been placed on a hot iron. I yelled in agony falling to my knees, my mind suffering too much to form a rational thought to mount a defense for myself. Chafulumisa was passed out on the ground, and Essam was still trapped by Aliikai's ribbon of power. Soon I heard an uproar start behind me, and the beam suddenly was deactivated and taken off of my body. I realize that all the students had finally come out of the shock and attacked Dabir, Aliikai and Kale. Rocking back and forth on all fours as I fought back the darkness clouding my vision I noticed an energy spike behind me. Turning around shakily, even as my vision swam, I spotted a tall, stringy shadow behind me, with purple energy glowing on his hands. I realized that Kala was going to sneak attack them. I push myself up to one knee, then finally onto my feet and take off, but I knew deep inside that I was going to be way too slow.

"HAAA!!!" Kala roars letting off the massive just as everyone, including my team, realizes the trap they were just lured into.

The purple beam whips towards them all and I fall back to my knees, from the pain, exhaustion and in defeat realizing that they were surely doomed. Suddenly a green bolt of energy slams into the head of Kala's attack and it's forced off course, instead choosing to smash into the stands that had once been filled completely and blow them up. Turning quickly I see Edana standing in the direction the beam had come from with a smirk on her face. She quickly zips over to me and picks me up gently.

"Edana…" I groan in pain as I try to warn her. "Watch out…for that gun…don't counter it…stay away…from…"

"It's okay," she says confidently. "I know all about it."

Edana's hands begin to glow and I can feel my energy reserves being filled back up. My strength gradually returns and my senses become sharper again. Standing up I roll my neck, which emits several loud pops, and I flex my arms to see how much of my strength is back.

"Kami that feels good," I say.

"How sweet," I hear Kala sneer even as the battle raged on behind him. "You've just convenienced me."

"I'm going to send you back to the shadow's that birthed you," I growl angrily as a black battle aura explodes around me.

Kala's face shifts in the same manner as Dabir's did, turning to one filled with dark desires for death, and he begins to power up. Panicking, I look around and notice that Kale has gotten hold of several students with the gun as Aliikai seems to be freezing them faster than they can attack. _KAMI! That gun must feed energy to Kala and Dabir! And it's driving them insane!_

"Edana, the turret." I say simply as Kala's power jumps beyond even mine.

"Taking it out," she responds in a businesslike tone.

Then Kala zaps forward; punching a footprint into the ground from the sheer force he pushed off with, and slams a fist into my face. I yell in pain as I'm sent rocketing backwards. He'd moved so fast I hadn't even gotten to form a plan to counter with.

"I'll give you this. You're a lot better than Jimi." I sneer as I wipe blood from the corner of my mouth.

"Better than Jimi? That's an insult to me! I'm beyond the level of any fighter in this school!"

I simply snap into a fighting stance and challenge him with a beckoning gesture. With an angry battle cry he takes off at me again. This time I'm ready for him and slam a ki blast into his chest stopping him in his tracks. But that's all this accomplished. In fact it seemed to do so little to him that it appeared he'd stopped on purpose. Then Kala raises his palm towards me and lets off an even bigger bolt of energy, from about 5 feet in front of me. Yelping in surprise I leap to the right dodging it barely, and feeling the soles of my shoes melting slightly from the sheer heat of the blast being so close to them. As I roll to my feet Kala's instantly on me slamming another punch into my face, comboing it with a knee to the stomach doubling me over. Lifting the same leg he smashes his knee into my face, breaking my nose and causing blood to flow freely from it, before he finishes off by slamming a rising hook into my stomach that launches me into the air. Dizzy again, for the second time in 5 minutes, I reel from the pain while holding my nose as gravity takes control of my body again. The pain begins to subside a little until I feel Kala's foot connect with my ribs right before I hit the ground. The force of the blow snaps completely through one and cracking the two near it, almost pushing the broken rib into my lung. I hit the ground a lot quicker this time since he'd kicked me laterally and not up into the air. I roll painfully for several meters and push myself up to my feet slowly.

"I'm not gonna last long if I keep this up." I mutter to myself.

Glancing at Edana's progress with the turret I flinch as she barely dodges one of Aliikai's ribbons and backflips away from another sweep from Kale.

"And neither will Edana," I add grimly.

Grimacing I raise my hands as Kala walks calmly towards me, all the confidence in the world. Then I cut loose letting of loads upon loads of ki blasts at Kala. His eyes register a slight surprise as he leans backwards dodging the first one. Then his body seems to become a blade of grass in the wind as he nimbly dodges every single attack I throw at him. I stop, breathing heavily from the loss of energy and the effort I put into it.

"Not good enough!" Kala laughs.

Then he tears off towards me again aiming an uppercut at my jaw. I leap to the side quickly and slam a roundhouse into his stomach. He doubles over, slightly surprised I'd hit him finally and I capitalize on it beautifully. I slam my right elbow into his forehead, pushing his face back up and leaping into the air slightly. Adding power and gaining the proper leverage as I lace my hands together and smash him in the base of his skull stunning him momentarily. Following up viciously I turn my back to his back and slide my leg between his while wrapping my arms around the front of his throat. Leaning forward so that his feet are off the ground and I'm in complete control of his body, I pull on Kala's throat, swinging his body in a wide arc and launching him into the air with a choke-throw. Growling as my eyes narrow in a predatory expression I launch myself after him. Pulling level with his flying form I swing an axe-handle at his torso, intending to drill him into the ground. Then Kala's dazed eyes suddenly snap back into focus and I realize I was chasing a possum. He jabs me in the stomach quickly, interrupting my plans and spins punching me in the stomach even harder, throwing me backwards through the air. I was surprised more than damaged and recover quickly as he pursues me. This time it's his turn to be caught off-guard as I flip higher into the air just as he reaches me, and he looks up trying to keep track of me. As soon as his head is turned up enough to sight me again Kala finds himself looking right into a blast of blue energy as I slam it down into his face from above. This time there was no playing possum as he skyrockets back towards the ground. Wasting no mercy on the alien, I take off after him and pummeling him with fist after fist into his stomach before finishing off with a heavy hook in the face that doubles his speed towards the ground. The resulting headfirst collision snaps his neck brutally as the last of the light fades from Kala's eyes. Landing quickly I check his vitals to make sure he wasn't fooling with me again before moving on. Turning towards the massive battle I watch in horror as Aliikai let's off an enormous white ribbon that wraps up all of the students and I shake my head with a smirk.

"How were all of you that dumb?"

I watch as Edana rises above the group, as a ki shield dissipates from around her body and she dives in at Aliikai with her fists cocked.

"Ok, now how do I free Essam and the rest of the students?" I ponder out loud.

"Trust me, they're stuck their until my sister sets them free."

Whipping around to face the deep baritone resounding from behind me, I realized that the deadly gun had stopped firing. As soon as Kale's massive body comes into my view, I feel one of the hardest punches ever smash against the temple of my skull. My eyes glaze over as I blurrily notice Kale's figure rushing in at me viciously. I cross my arms and brace myself, until I realized that he stopped. Pulling myself to my feet again, I shake my head to try and clear the cobwebs out of it. Then, looking in horror, I realize that Kale's growing bigger. His body seems to be absorbing all the power he's sapped from the various victims during their foolish attack. Growling a black aura explodes around my body and I yell powering up completely in preparation for a painful fight. By the time Kale's finished gathering all of his stolen energy his frame seems to have expanded to be at least 8 feet tall. Looking up at the massive fighter, he instantly opens his mouth and lets off a blisteringly hot beam of ki at me. But my match with Ray had prepared me for such a wild move and I zipped to the right quickly avoiding the attack, even as the heat burned the left arm off of my shirt, and leaving my skin toasted as well. Leaping into the battle with ferocity I slam several fists into Kale's face and body but he takes them with relatively little pain. Then he strikes back and we begin to trade blows at astounding rates as I fight circles around Kale dodging most of his blows easily, and landing a lot of my own hits. But even at the speeds I'm fighting I realize that I'm not hurting Kale any significant amount, and even the attacks that I block manage to bruise my arms. Realizing the losing battle that I'm fighting I break the engagement and float backwards as Kale rushes forward to press the attack. Pressing into the ground hard with my right leg I leap forward slamming my right elbow and knee into his throat and stomach at the same time finally hurting Kale for real this time. He roars in pain as he holds his throat while doubling over at the same time and I take advantage of him being on all fours. Lifting my left leg as I turn and plant a reverse 180 axe-kick in Kale's spine, and he snaps back up trying to roar in pain. But his collapsed windpipe only allows some semblance of a gurgling whine and he rolls over pathetically. I hold an open palm of Kale's body as black energy glows on my hand for a moment and his eyes grow wide in fear. Then I let the energy fade and take off into the air floating towards where Aliikai and Edana are battling. I lob a ki blast over my shoulder and it slams into the downed Kale consuming him in destructive energy, his gurgled yell of agony swallowed up by the roar of the explosion.

"2 down," I say to myself, my breath coming in ragged gasps. "Now where did Dabir get to?"

Not getting an answer, I continued my "limp" through the air towards Edana's fight with Aliikai. I see the two exchanging blows in mid-air and they seem completely unconcerned with protecting themselves as all of their punches and kicks land easily neither of them giving an inch. Suddenly I hear a hum of energy and spin around in panic looking for the turreted gun and I see Dabir evilly sitting in the seat, with the beam aimed at the petrified students, with Master Essam in the very front.

"DABIR! NOOO!!!" I roar in a fury and blast off towards him, a black battle aura exploding around me.


	14. Chapter 14

As my mind battled with itself, and my Sayjin side suppressed the "fight or flight" reaction of the flowing adrenaline. As I roared in the face of this 8 foot monstrosity that had torn my father's body to pieces with a single blow from his knee. He continued stomping towards me as my power grows. But once again, I hit a wall and my power stops growing as my body lacks the power to go any further. Then suddenly, a glowing, healing light descends from the heavens and bathes me in its energy and I feel my power being restored. So much energy I gathered, my body even seemed to age and grow in size to accommodate all the power I would need to take on this demonic fighter. Then something snaps inside of me, as the image of my father's death replays over and over in my head, and I let out an unearthly yell as my body burns from the astounding amount of energy gathering it, and a golden aura explodes around my body. I feel my muscles swell in size, and all my senses become a lot clearer as my vision, smell, and especially hearing become sharpened immensely. All of which speak nothing of the power flowing through me. Looking at my hands with green eyes, I gasp in awe as I realize how easy it will be to destroy this fiend with this kind of power. As he approaches me undaunted, the golden light of my aura reveals the face of Dabir snarling.

Sitting up with a roar of anger and retribution, I wake completely from the dream and realize that only Edana, Chafulumisa, and Samantha surround me.

"Whoa Edana, what did you do to him?" Chafulumisa jokingly asks.

"I restored his energy and helped his ki naturally repair his body. Then-"

"It was a joke," Chafulumisa interrupts her. "I know what you 'did' per say."

I tune the two of them out as I realize the meaning of the flashback and Essam's recount of the Super Sayjin legend comes back into my head.

"Is that…to be me?" I say quietly, to myself. "Am I to uphold the last legacy of my race?"

"Are…you alright?" Edana asks me gently.

Still tuning them out I remember Frieza, "will I destroy this…all powerful being and avenge my race?"

"Déshawn!"

Snapping out of my reverie, my scouter beeps suddenly and a power level of 700,000 shows on it, and I realize with horror that Dabir has gotten stronger, if possible, a lot stronger.

"I gotta help them," I say sitting up, and I realized that they'd laid me where I had put Edana when I first rescued her from Kale and Aliikai.

"You're still not fully recovered." Edana pushes me back down gently. "You need to rest."

"Edana, you know what Master Essam means to me," I say, sitting up firmly and standing up. Stripping off the charred and torn shirt, I flex my fists and crack my knuckles. "Dabir's already shown the capacity to kill. And there's no way I'm letting him kill her."

"Déshawn I've been watching him work." Chafulumisa speaks, in a would-be reasonable voice. "Even with all your brilliant fighting, speed, no matter what. He just absorbs damage and doubles it in payback."

"If you want me to stay in here, then make me. But short of unconsciousness, I'll be outside." I get up and walk out of the cafeteria, then stop and turn. "And if you try to come out here, I AM prepared to fight you."

Cracking his knuckles Chafulumisa steps forward challenging my position, "a little warm-up never hurt you anyways."

Essam leans away from another punch from Dabir, and palms a blast on his fist, then she plants her open hand on his chest and fires another blast at him point-blank range. Once again the attack seems to do little more than drive him even more insane. He grabs Essam's hand, pinning it to his chest, and lifts her into the air, twisting and slamming her into the ground behind him. He turns about to stomp her face into mush but Abrihet lands in front of her and let's loose with a barrage of blasts that simply push him back a few steps, but that's all she needed. Then she leaps into the fight throwing a hook across his face, he brings his fist up in an uppercut, but Abrihet leans backwards, landing on her back. Pushing off of her hands she plants her feet under his elbow and kicks it higher than he intended, exposing his ribs. Twisting on her hands like a break-dancer, she kicks him in the ribs with each foot in quick succession and flips backwards. Just as she landed on the ground Dabir grabs her around the throat and lifts her in the air, choking her. Squeezing with narrowed eyes he begins to crush her windpipe, but a thin beam of ki slams into his chest knocking him backwards nearly 4 feet. The blast wasn't aimed to be damaging or throw him a long distance however, and Essam's goal of knocking Dabir on his back worked perfectly. Well…almost perfectly. In Dabir's powered up mode, he managed to hang onto Abrihet's throat. As he lay on his back, he smashed her face into the ground and pushed up quickly, only to find Essam's angry fist in his face. The blow snapped his head back and she quickly followed up with another kick to the side, then leaping back a little ways she plowed him over with a giant blast of energy. He growled and cocked his right hand back, planning to blow Essam's body all around the courtyard, but Abrihet catches his fist from behind. Holding him from behind, Dabir suddenly finds a heel slamming into a soft pressure point between his shoulder and throat. If one were to see from afar they'd probably drop their jaw at the impossible split she did, while pulling his arm behind him. Yelling in pain as he's axe-kicked in the vulnerable point he tries to grab the shoulder that's in such pain with his free arm, Edana twists harder on his arm putting him in more pain. Then she drops her body weight to the ground and rolls her body away from Dabir's back, using his arm as a fulcrum to lift him over her and slam him into the ground in the same manner he had done to her with one arm. She flips backwards onto her feet and smirks, beckoning Dabir with her hand. Growling in rage he gets up about to charge her and tear her apart with his bare hands, but a spinning roundhouse from Essam catches him off-guard and stuns him momentarily. Then both of them try to capitalize by attacking Dabir at the same time, but suddenly his eyes are no longer glazed and he catches them in the throat.

"Finally!" He laughs as he chokes them both at the same time. "I needed you to both attack at the same time so I could make sure I wouldn't be snuck up on."

Then, dropping his center of gravity, he takes off running dragging them in the ground at the same time, digging up long trenches with their bodies as Essam and Abrihet soon find it very hard to form a complete thought. The pain of having their heads used to re-landscape the academy grounds while being strangled is too much for them to take. Suddenly a bright glow is seen inside the main academy building and then a yell of power sounds.

"SHINING RAGE!!"

The resulting explosion blows the doors clean off of their hinges and a huge cloud of dust and debris hangs in the air inside the building. Stopping for a moment to take in this sudden event Dabir, still keeping Abrihet and Essam pinned, watches the dust carefully.

"Let them go," comes a cool voice.

When you first come across challenges, you find yourself setting limitations on what you're willing to do to survive. But you never really define your limitations on what you're willing to do…to ensure someone else's survival. _Maybe it's because you're willing to do anything. Or maybe you're willing to not do a thing._ As I stepped over the unconscious body of Chafulumisa and Samantha (who had attacked me to help her boyfriend) I found myself leaning more towards the first sentiment. Dabir laughed evilly as he held his hands up in a mocking gesture of surrender, and I grit my teeth as he continued to hold Essam and Abrihet by the throat. Then I blasted off, zapping towards Dabir and slamming a fist into his stomach. Not expecting my blow to be so powerful he drops my mother and friend as he doubles in pain. My hands glow with blazing purple energy and I cup my hands at the wrists and hold them out towards his stomach.

"Soaring HAMMER!"

The ball slams into Dabir's stomach with more force than the concentrated air blast I'd hit him with earlier. After about 10 yards of flight, the ball of ki explodes engulfing him in dust and dirt as the destructive energy launches him even further.

"Get inside," I tell the woozy pair of women next to me. Holding my hands out, I help them both to your feet.

"Déshawn," Abrihet says in a voice that fails to hide her pain. "I…I can still fight with you."

"Abrihet, he'll be fine." Essam assure her, holding her arm.

"What do you mean?" Abrihet asks.

"Déshawn has the very epitome of a warriors spirit flowing through his veins," Essam hides my alien ancestry from her for the moment. "So strong is his love for the battlefield and a challenging fight, that every near death experience he suffers from will exponentially raise his strength. So great is this boost of power, that Déshawn will probably defeat Dabir with relative ease."

As this new revelation sinks in, I smirk slightly and on a sudden urge I pull Essam into a tight hug. Then turning to Abrihet, I grab her in a gentle embrace as well, and kiss her on the cheek before pulling away.

"Go get 'em Shawn. For Team Halima, for Master Essam, for the students he's killed," Abrihet says in an inspiring tone. "But most importantly…get him for you."

Looking at Essam Maysa, my true mother and support, for advice she simply smiles with great joy, even though an undertone of sadness seems to tint it.

"You, my son," a single tear slides down her cheek. "Are going to become something this planet has never seen before. And you will do even greater things."

"I won't let you down," I say as a roar of rage echoes from behind me.

I hear them walk into the building, and my visage slides back into one of a warrior…a warrior with a goal to meet, and a destiny to fulfill.

I lift into the air and float over towards where the maniac of a fighter is roaring in anger. I sneer and float down, landing in front of him, my arms folded arrogantly. Dabir leaps at me, anger flashing wildly in his eyes. I lean to the side, almost with contempt, and snap a palm strike into his solar plexus. He yells in pain and doubles over. Rather than follow up, I simply watch the massive fighter with anger burning in my eyes. He cocks his fist back to swing at me again, but I jab him quickly in the face interrupting his plan. Then I whip a backhand across his face sending him flying to the side from the force of the blow. Gliding after him at an even pace, I land at his feet as he's lying on the ground and wait for him to get up. But he doesn't move and I get angry.

"Get up!"

He continues pretending I knocked him out, and I kick him in the stomach angrily. Then I hold a flat palm towards his body and let loose a burst of energy that razes his body painfully, and he yells in pain as the explosions blasts him into the air. I leap up after him, and deliver a backhand swipe that sends him rocketing back towards the ground. Getting up quickly, he flies at me, his rage coming out as a clear yell. Floating to the side a bit, I let Dabir soar past me without even countering with my own attacks.

"Was that it?" I ask. "You did all that screaming for that spectacular failure?"

"I WILL NOT BE HUMILIATED!" Dabir yells and powers up. "NOT BY THE LIKES OF A-"

I cut him off in mid-sentence by plowing him in the stomach with a roundhouse. Then I slam my palms together at the wrists I plaster him with a purple ball of ki that carries him off into the distance. Then I let my arms fall back to my side and then an explosion sounds in a distance and I smirk in satisfaction.

"And so you perish," I say, to myself really, since nobody can hear me.

I soar off after Dabir to find him so I can finish him off and find Janiko and Ayana. It's at this thought that I see Ayana recovering from what looked like a devastating blow from Aliikai. After scanning more, I see Dabir has a hold of Aliikai by the throat with a sinister sneer on his face. _So he's finally lost it. Now he just wants to kill anyone he can. It's truly sad, he might have been savable before, but now I must completely destroy him._

"Sorry Aliikai, but it has to be this way," I hear Dabir sneer as a white aura explodes around him, and it extends to surround Aliikai as well.

_What the…?_

"No! Please don't!" she pleads for a moment.

I look at Ayana to see what her reaction is but she seems just as confused as me. Then my scouter beeps and Dabir's power jumps from 700,00 to 900,000 and my eyes get wide.

"NO! STOP!"

I zap out of the sky and try to slam a fist into Dabir, anything to make him stop absorbing people's energy. It was getting sickening to me that he would use such cheap and desperate tactics to try and gain power. But a ki shield flashes around him and I'm sent toppling backwards. I turn the roll into a flip onto my feet and watch in horror as Aliikai collapses from Dabir absorbing her energy directly and my scouter places his final power level at 1,000,000. Then he turns to face me, and then zaps forward to plant a punch in my face, but Ayana intercepts him brilliantly thrusting a kick into his side. The kick didn't deal any damage, but he stopped and grabbed her leg using it slam her into the ground.

"Stop!" I yell in anger and rush forward to stop him.

He spins, kicking me in the chest, while maintaining his grip on Ayana and punches her in the face again with his free hand.

"Your fight is with me!" I growl flexing and powering up to my max.

"HA! You couldn't give me so much as a scrap now!" Dabir laughs and grabs Ayana by her collar.

Then he begin to pummel her in the face mercilessly, laughing all the while as blood begins to free flow out of her face and her whimpers of pain are all but bordering on begging for mercy. Then, I feel it, and it feels exactly the same as in my nightmare. Something inside my head snaps, and the floodgates of rage and power are toppled within my body.

"STOOOOOPPPPPP!!!!" I yell in anger as my power rockets to heights I've never felt before.

Then a yell of wrath and power pours from my mouth as golden energy swirls around me, surrounding me in its power as my hair spikes up, turning gold. My eye's flash green for a moment turning back to their normal black again as my body tries to transform into a power feared by even the strongest being in the galaxy. I thrust my fists into the sky, as my yell rises to a roar and my muscles painfully swell and my pupils finally turn green. Even as the dust and rocks are kicked up into the air, my aura burns them away instantly, giving me a clear view, even through the smoke I've kicked up. Dabir drops Ayana, and she crumbles to the ground in pain, her breathing coming in short, noisy, gasps.

"And now you face a power that will cause hearts everywhere to tremble in fear. The power of the Legendary Super Sayjin!" I yell and thrust my fists down as my aura explodes even wider and my power continues to rise as if it no long knows any limits, the smirk on my face curls into a cruel sneer. "And you can not possibly survive!"


	15. Chapter 15 and 16

"So," Dabir looks over my crackling energy with a doubting look. "A legendary…Super Sayjin. I doubt that highly."

"Oh?" I cock my head to the side.

Dabir suddenly zaps forward, tearing up the ground as he takes off, and slams a hook into my face snapping my head back. "Ha, Super Sayjin my-"

He doesn't get to finish as I piston a return fire jab into his ribs, and Dabir's sent flying across the ground. He gets to his feet angrily and charges in at me again but I leap to the side dodging his punch a mile ahead of him, and slam a roundhouse in his stomach. He stops short as all the air is squeezed out of his lungs and he spits up blood in a raggedy gasp.

"It'll be much easier to accept your death at this point." I advise him as I watch him doubled over in pain. Ki begins to glow on my hands; "I'll make it quick."

He growls and rushes at me again throwing a flurry of blows that put his previous speed to shame. I even found myself impressed that he'd even grown faster than before, but he was still no match. As he growled, more and more frustrated as I easily avoided every one of his blows, he started mixing in kicks with his punches. But it was all to no avail. I simply move back and forth, blocking each of his attacks without so much as anything as extreme as effort on my part. He finally stops and jumps back a few feet, breathing heavily. I smirk, and fold my arms waiting for his next stream of attacks. But they don't come; instead he fixes me with an intense glare that I return with one of lazy contempt for his skills. Then suddenly, my scouter beeps and begins to scan a power level from behind me. It doesn't even get time to finish as a massive shoulder slams me from behind.

Dabir watched Déshawn being carried off into the distance by the enormous Kale. The only way for him to beat the aggressive fighter now, would be to absorb the energy of his last 'comrade'. At this thought Dabir smirked, 'pawn' would be a better term for the fool. He knew Kale wouldn't last long against the Sayjin. He'd thrown everything at him and hadn't even managed to hurt Déshawn's temper. There was no way the clumsy brute could handle someone with that much skill, speed, and power. True enough, it wasn't but moments later that Kale's body was seen careening towards Dabir, and he simply caught the huge fighter. Déshawn didn't seem to be coming, content with taking his time walking over to them. Kale growled, and shifted his weight to continue his attack, but Dabir's powerful grip shifted from his arm to his throat, and Kale's eyes grew wide in astonishment and fear.

"Pitiful," I watched as Kale was saved by Dabir catching him. "Next time, I'll hit him so hard that…what the hell is Dabir doing?"

Kale's eyes seemed to bulge, and Dabir's hand moved from Kale's huge bicep, to his similarly sized throat. Then white ki exploded around them and I realized with a horror what Kale was going through. The same fate his sister had fallen to; I had to stop them! Purple ki explodes around my palms and I hold them out, touching at the wrists, and the ki grows into a dense ball of ki.

"Soaring HAMMER!"

The attack slams into Dabir, only this time it doesn't pick him up and carry him through the air. Instead a powerful shield of ki flashes around Dabir causing it to explode and I'm forced to watch helplessly as Kale's drained of all his energy. Finally Dabir releases, the now paled, Kale and he collapses to the ground, dead.

"You monster!" I yell in anger, my aura growing slightly as it's being fed from my fury. "And he was on your side from the beginning!"

"Then he will understand what I did, and forgive me. As well as cheer me on while I END YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE!"

Dabir takes off at me throwing a hook that I dodge easily, returning fire with a knee to the stomach. He barely notices the attack as he follows up his leading hook with an uppercut. I zap to the side so quick that it seems as if I never change positions and his fist went through my after-image. He pulls up short, astonished that I had moved so fast. Then I whip into a 360-hook kick that smashes him into the air. He yells in rage and pain as he's sent flying back to where Kale had just come flying. A purple aura of power now glowing around him, Dabir comes ripping through the air towards me, fists cocked. He aims several blows at my head, but all it takes is a few quick adjustments and everything misses easily. He continues with a kicking spree, aiming kicks at every point of my body he thinks is the least bit open. I raise my knees quickly, deflecting every kick he threw, that was below the middle of my torso. Dabir doesn't even seem to be getting tired, which I assume to be the boost of energy Kale had given him. Then Dabir gets smarter throwing a combo left hook and right roundhouse kick at me at the same time. His smirk of victory vanishes, almost as quickly as I had, as I'd faded out of view and rematerialized behind the stunned fighter. Skipping my opportunity to break his spine, I float backwards a few feet and watched the lost Dabir finally catch up with me visually and his anger is suddenly let loose in a blaze of rage and ki that nearly kills every wild creature within the battlefield most students call the Academy grounds. I weather the storm and dodge every burst of energy that he slings at me. Finally exhausting his energy, Dabir stops, and his eyes seem to dilate in realization that I'd been holding back my power. A golden aura of rage and power explodes around me and I take off at him, covering the 50 feet between us before he manages to send the electric impulse to mount a defense. The blow slams his jaw off of its hinges and wrenches Dabir's neck to the side as he's pitched towards the ground at suicidal speeds. The impact is accompanied by a crack that makes my head vibrate from the sheer volume of the noise. Coupled with the fact that my senses are especially attuned in the power of Super Sayjin, stars dance in front of my eyes for a brief moment. Looking down at the broken fighter, I see him staggering to his feet and his right arm is flexed and his fist balled up in anger. But his left arm hangs limply, and I realize as I descend from the sky, that it had been dislocated.

"It's pitiful. You have killed your comrades trying to gain even more power. And you are still no match for even half of my power." I taunt him, watching with folded arms as he pulls himself together.

"No…you're wrong." He breathes heavily. "I'm going to RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!"

"Not with one arm I don't think so."

He roars in a psychotic fit of anger and rushes at me, aiming to shoulder tackle me with his right side, foregoing the traditional and pinpoint attacks a true fighter should, digressing to the basic primal instinct of how to hurt your target. I dodge the blow so quickly that he barely registers his failure as he plows into the ground; skin being shredded off of his forearms by the various rocks in the dirt, and pieces of the school's arena that was destroyed by the battling that has scarred the grounds. Then I spread my fingers, touching my thumbs together as dark purple ki glows on my hands. It expands into a huge ball of nearly black energy as lightning dances around the attack.

"SHOCKING FURY!"

The blast of energy slams into Dabir, who manages to raise a hand to block it for a moment, but he yells in pain as he's electrocuted by a power beyond anything he could've imagined. Then his arm crumbles under the pressure of the attack and the blast slams into him and explodes doubling the amount of electricity flowing through him and he yells in unbridled torture and his body finally gives out. Then I backflip into the air several feet, and aim my right palm in the general direction of Dabir's unconscious body and brace it with my left hand. The amount of power I was about to channel through it was going to be massive, and I would need all my strength to steady it. I sneer in disgust as I watch Kale dragging himself, almost literally, to Dabir's dying body to exact his revenge for the betrayal and murder of his sister. I pause for a moment and watch as Kale opens his mouth and massive column of ki is emitted from his mouth and consumes Dabir's face. After the smoke from the massive explosion clears Dabir's been turned in a blackened, smoldering, and faceless corpse. Kale grunts, pushing himself up to his feet turning his eyes to the sky, spotting me, and begins to advance, slowly floating into the air.

"My soul is nearly at peace." Kale rumbles almost too quietly for me to hear. "I have avenged my sister and betrayal."

"And now, you must die." I finish his sentiment for him.

Bowing his head, Kale hovers in the air between Dabir and me. Then my power surges as I gather the powerful attack into my right arm, as my left arm flexes and prepares to brace its brother lest the sheer force behind the attack rip my arm out of it's socket.

"SCORCHING PHOENIX!!!"

A beam of golden energy is shot from my arm and my arm snaps back saved by the extra strength placed from my left hand. Despite the immense power of the attack, the beam is only about as big in diameter as my palm. As it rips through the molecules of air, the speed of it sets the oxygen around it on fire, creating a flamethrower effect as it punches through Kale's chest, followed by the napalm-like aftershocks. He's slammed back towards the ground, even as the attack slams into Dabir and incinerates him as well. Then the blast detonates and the explosion of light, debris, smoke, and power sends clouds of the environment into the air and obscures my vision for a few moments. Then I flare up my aura and the power blows away the smoke and gives me a clear view of the deceased Kale Mana and Dabir Idris. As I drop out of Super Sayjin, I collapse to the ground exhausted from having maintained the transformation and being so untrained in it. Looking around the battlefield, tears begin to pour from my eyes as I see my fellow students scattered across the courtyard, killed from the fight that escalated to near all-out war. Some of the bodies are decapitated, or defaced from the fighting that continued after their deaths, and their shocked look of pain was smeared across the grounds.

"Such…horrors scar my eyes…" I breathe.

Even as my vision blurred from the tears, darkness consumed me from the exhaustion, and lack of wanting to see my peers in this horrifying state.

My eyes opened slowly as the light in the room caused me to shut them again for a moment and adjust to the brightness. Staring straight up, it's a moment before I register Edana's beautiful face hovering over mine, a worried looking in her eyes. Tilting my head I survey the room, my eyes falling on the battered Team Halima and Master Essam Maysa. Satisfied with the situation I quickly grab Edana's face in my hands and press my lips to her briefly.

"We thought you'd died." Edana half-whispered, half-cried in the brief moment. Ignoring her worry, letting my happiness run its course, I pull her into another kiss. "Master Essam said the strain of your transformation was too much for your untrained body."

I pull her into a final, much more passionate kiss and sit up before finally releasing her. Looking over her red eyes with a twinge of guilt I wipe away her tears with my thumbs then stand up completely.

"Guys," I begin, my sight roaming over the entire team. "I need to speak with…my mother…for a moment."

The collective intake of breath only excludes Edana and Master Essam herself. I nod my head, confirming their silent question about the seriousness of my statement. The understanding passes through them and they all shuffle out of the room silently. I catch Edana's arm, as she was at the back of the group, before she makes it out of the room and shut the door quietly.

"I want you to know a few things about me." I explain to her questioning, but hopeful look.

I listened passively, my eyes fading out of focus, as Master Essam explained my heritage to Edana and the history behind the transformation I'd undergone in my effort to defeat Dabir. My ears perked up a few times as I picked up a few bits of information I'd missed out at first, information such as the rough mating rituals of my species. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I even found myself enjoying the idea of many of the practices. Somewhere during Master Essam's explanation I realized that Edana picked up on my thoughts, or look on my face, as she started blushing wildly, her eyes seemingly locked on the floor. Wiping my face blank again Master Essam finally finishes, and turns her wise eyes upon me.

"And so Déshawn, I expect that you would like to ask me how the snowball was thrown down the hill." Her metaphoric nature returns, making my head throb as I pick through the metaphor.

Thinking hard for a moment, I realize she knows that I want to how the recent chain reaction of events in my life was set off.

"Actually, I want to know how my father really died." I bow my head for a moment.

"What do you mean?" For the first time in my life, Master Essam looks confused. "I've never hinted as to the cause of your father's death. Where did you get your initial impression about his murder?"

"My nightmare." I said simply. "Every night, whenever I got into a deep sleep, I'd have this horrible nightmare about my father being killed brutally. Don't ask why I assume that he's my father, I just know."

Master Essam nods silently, as Edana listens intently, having never known the full story of my nocturnal disturbances.

"In my dream I'm a child, and my father is in an intense battle with a huge…man. He's over 8 feet and seems at least 400 pounds of all muscle. And he's battering my…father, as I'd originally believed him to be, brutally. Being a child all I can do is watch in horror as the strongest man I've ever known is beat around with relative ease. Then he finally delivers the killing blow. He slammed a knee into my father's side so hard that he very literally, almost broke in half and his blood is sprayed on my face." I pause for a moment, shivering as the image returns to my head with the gruesome description. "After I found out what I truly was, the nightmare returned and my 'child' self is powering up immensely as if I intend to fight this man myself. But the dream ended when I couldn't pass a certain point and wasn't strong enough to fight this man…that and Janiko showed up with a ball of ki over my face."

Master Essam chuckles lightly at the glare I'd flashed her, while Edana's horrified look fades to confusion.

"Finally, in my nightmare right after Edana and you rescued me from Dabir to heal me back to full health, my younger form passes the…barrier, I suppose is what you'd call it, and transforms into the Super Sayjin that I became against Dabir." I pause for a moment again.

"But, there's no way a child could transform into a Super Sayjin, even if those events were true." Edana pipes up finally.

"Exactly, that's the first reason I know that my father was not killed by some huge fighter." I acknowledge. "My other, solidifying, clue that this dream is more of a mental fabrication of unknown origins is that as this fighter approached me in my transformed state…a light passed over his face, and it was Dabir that had killed my father and was about to attack me."

Edana falls completely silent, as the revelation seems to floor her, and Essam simply nods in understanding.

"This dream is really your minds way of…communicating…your development as a fighter from your subconscious to your active brain." She explains.

"Once again you've confused me." I raise an eyebrow. "I thought that's what the workouts, fights, and scouters were for."

"Indeed they are an excellent gauge to measure your strength, speed, and even technique. But the development that I speak of is more of a mental maturing that I speak of. Think about what you were willing to do, and were doing, at the time these nightmares were manifesting." Master Essam invites.

"Well before the first dream, I'd just beaten Jimiyu to death, nearly," I add at the look on Essam's face. "And met Ayana for the first time."

"And afterwards?"

"I had my big fight with Ayana, when I almost killed her and you got upset with me."

"And right before the next dream?" Essam presses.

"Edana and I fought Aliikai and Kale. Afterwards we revealed our…true feelings to each other." I smiled warmly at Edana, who blushed at Essam's raised eyebrow. "Verbally."

"And after that one?" Essam smirks smugly for a moment before reverting to her wise persona.

"We found Alwalda dead, and I explained to Edana how you came be my 'mother'." I say. Predicting Essam's next questions I continue uninterrupted, "and right before the next dream you told me that I was a Sayjin."

"Do you see a pattern?" Essam finally asks.

"Not really," I admit.

"It seems that before each nightmare, something major happened in your life. And afterwards, you seemed more open to care for others." Essam explains, a proud smile on her face. "Before this entire ordeal, I don't think you would've ever burned your limits in the manner you did to protect others that you didn't know."

A matching smile spreads over my face I realize the truth.

"You're right. After every dream as I 'unlocked' more 'power' I did feel more willing to sacrifice myself for my teammates." I closed my eyes, reviewing my memories closely. "In fact, right before I transformed, I'd even gone so far as to fight off Chafulumisa and Samantha just so they would let me outside to help you and Abrihet."

"I tried to stop him," Edana defends.

"Indeed," Essam smirks knowingly. "But he IS a Sayjin Edana. Once a being that driven, and powerful in Déshawn's case, short of incapacitating him he's not going to let his goal be diverted."

I nod my head guiltily, "I did almost fight Edana, but she stopped just in time."

"And lucky for Abrihet and I that she did. We weren't likely to make it if Edana had stood against you," Essam smiles sadly, remembering the battering I had stepped in on. "A grave mistake on my part almost handed him a very assured win."

"Sorry," Edana puts in. "I almost got you two killed."  
"You were doing what you hoped was best for Déshawn," Essam assures her. "I should be thanking you."

"Can we focus here?" I press.

"Oh yes, your nightmares." Essam looks at me again as Edana falls silent.

"What did they really mean?"

"Just what you said. As you grew stronger, and experienced things in life that opened your heart, your mind matured, essentially unlocking your power to transform." Essam explains. "You see to transform, a Sayjin must be exceptionally powerful AND have a open and pure heart. Until you began to care for Edana so deeply, you weren't either of these things. As your heart gave in to emotion more and more, your hidden powers that are enhanced greatly by your emotions were released."

"So…the madder I get, the stronger?"

"Not quite. You see, you cared so much for Edana that when she was kidnapped your power was released so that you could fight against Kale and Aliikai at once, even while holding her weight." Essam explains. "And right before you transformed, you were much stronger than before as well as having recovered from a near-death experience. To a Sayjin, those experiences provide an enormous boost of power, which gave you the strength needed to transform, and then Dabir triggered the most powerful emotion you have: anger."

"And I transformed." I conclude.

"And kicked his ASS!" Edana pipes up again, smiling widely.

"Speaking of kicking someone's ass," I stand up. "I need to see Nani for a moment."

"Déshawn," Essam's eyes narrow in warning.

"I'm coming," Edana intervenes, standing quickly and following me out the door.

"Fine by me," I smirk. "In both senses of the phrase."

Realizing the double meaning I'd just thrown at her, she plants a kiss on my cheek and wraps her arms around my left arm and we leave Essam's office.

I walked into the dormitory and immediately spot Nani sitting at her post; her face seems to have lost a bit of its cheer. Unsure of myself for a moment, I pause until Edana prods me in the back, and leaves my side. I walk up to the counter, seemingly unnoticed, and clear my throat. Nani's eyes snap up off of the paperwork she had been falsely focused on, and red eyes and tear-stained cheeks seem to burn through my soul.

"So are you happy?" Nani attacks me verbally. "Jerek is dead!"

Taken aback, my mouth hangs open dumbly for a moment, and then it closes as Nani continues yelling at me. "I mean...that's what you wanted right? That's what you pretty much want for everyone here who pisses you off a little! Right?"

"Nani," I begin much more calmly than I thought myself capable of. Just another credit to Edana's focusing presence pressing on the back of my mind. "You're not being fair."

"How am I being unfair? Every time someone gets you mad you always go off about the different ways you're gonna kill them." Nani doesn't lose a step as her tears begin to flow again. Then her voice falters, "…I really cared about him."

"Listen Nani, I'm sorry." I lean against the counter suddenly, realizing the weight of the revelation. "I tried to save everyone I could, you should know that. I nearly paid my life for it."

She takes a deep breath and leans back in her chair, sobbing freely now as the memories return to her and I realize what it must have been like for her. Frozen helplessly by Aliikai's power as she watched her fellow students, and possibly love of her life, killed by Dabir and Kale. Through a pain-racked voice she looks at me, sniffling for a moment before continuing.

"I'm sorry Déshawn I know. But I mean, when you walked in, I know that Jerek is competitive and he was bound to push your buttons." She explains. "I just didn't want you to let him provoke you because I was scared what would happen if you did fight him."

"Nani," I lean forward and lower my voice. The realization, that what I might have done to her love scared her, shook me to the core. I must truly have been a monster in the past for her to profess something like that to me. "I realize that I'm notorious for my bad temper, but that's because of a personal…issue I have. But you don't have to consider it a problem anymore. After my battle with Dabir, I've learned to control my anger a lot better."

"And why should I believe you?" Nani squeaks out between sobs.

"Because I came over here just to apologize to you." I tell her. Then I straighten up as another urge comes over me. "And to offer my condolences for your painful loss."

Finally out of words, she just puts her hands to her face and begins to cry uncontrollably and I'm stunned that the cheerful, smiling, loved-by-all Nani Moana was sitting in front of me crying so freely.

"Come here."

I walk around the counter and grab Nani's arm, and pull her into a hug as she cries into my chest.

Standing outside Edana's dorm room, my mind was in a swirl of emotions and sensations that was driving my hormones crazy. We had walked up the stairs slowly, talking about the chaos that had ensued over the first couple weeks of school at the academy. Then we had reached her door, and she gave me a quick kiss on the lips, and our passion just rolled out at the same time. Presently, our lips were locked in a rush of desire that had ignited the fires of passion within my Sayjin blood, and her body was vibrating against mine as her tendency to seizure resurfaced. Pressing my right hand against the door, while my left remained wrapped tightly around her waist, pulling her body onto mine. All it takes is a quick thrust from my palm and the door pops open under my push and we stumble into the room. Luckily the room is empty, but it's not as if it would have mattered if the entire school was waiting just beyond the door. By this time, her legs are wrapped around my waist and I carry her to the door of her bedroom, and open it by roughly slamming her into the wooden obstacle. She gasps for a moment, breaking our passionate kiss, as I carry her to the bed and lay her down looking into her eyes for a moment, then we both begin to peel each other's clothes off forcefully as we embrace lips once again and our sweating bodies finally meet after we've discarded the reigns of garments.

My eyes opened, and I felt the most refreshed after sleeping than I ever had since Master Essam took me under her wing. Smirking, I run my hand over the back of Edana's hair that was still a tangled mess from the sweating and pulling on it over the course of the night that it had gone through. Sitting up, I peel the covers off of my lower body, and wrap Edana in the excess blankets. Standing I roll my neck, hoping the several cracks it emitted didn't wake Edana. Suddenly I freeze up as the phone rings, and then I quickly snatch up the receiver in an effort to let Edana continue to sleep.

"Hello?" I hiss quietly into the phone.

"Sorry if awoke you or Edana, Déshawn, but I need to speak with you immediately."

"Right now?" My voice is still sleepy sounding.

"Yes," Master Essam said. "This is very important, and I want to speak with you about it before you get caught up in the open fights for the day."

"Fine, I'll be in your office in a minute," I groan, hanging up without waiting for her answer.

I feel a little more self-conscious than usual as I stand in Master Essam's office, with the other teachers looking over me, and I have no shirt on. The way she'd sounded on the phone I thought it was a "can't-wait-or-death-results" kind of deal, but they all seemed to be having fairly casual conversations waiting for me. So here I am, standing in front of my teachers, and mother, in the pants from a black gi, and nothing else. Leaning against the door that was closed behind me I look at Master Essam and tried to remember to give her an extra level of respect rather than the honest interaction we usually shared. She was in front of her underlings after all.

"You must forgive my appearance," I break the uncomfortable ice. "It sounded like I should get over here immediately."

Smiling slightly, which let me know she saw the subtle and significant look I'd thrown her, Master Essam simply answers, "well today is open fights for the ring, and I figured that after your…rest last night, you'd be ready to go."

"Well, yeah that's true." I grin sheepishly, having no other response for her.

"Elentill, would you mind explaining the proposition to Déshawn please?" Master Essam gestures to my technologies teacher.

"Yes, very much." His voice sounds extremely excited. "Well, Déshawn as you might know, the teachers do not live here and on the weekends, we're not even required to be here."

"You of course waive that freedom," I deduce verbally.

"Um…yes," He appears wrong footed for a moment, as if he'd expected me to not catch on yet. "Anyways, while my mind works very well my fighting capabilities are less than impressive, barely able to survive against one of your weaker attacks I watched you launch at Dabir during your final battle."

"You saw all that?"

"Yes, like you said. I always waive the weekend free time, I'm an inventor of sorts and this school has an optimal environment." He responds.

"When Dabir and I aren't blowing it up."

"If you choose to accept this offer, that will cease to be a problem." Mrs. Jun'ko urged.

"Hisa, show some patience, he needs to fully understand what has and may happen." Mr. Jorn silences her. "Anyways, like I said, I was still at the school when the commotion started outside, and my scouter began to pick up incredible readings. The likes of which I haven't seen since Master Essam's battle with several malcontents."

"Elentill, let's stay on topic." Master Essam suppresses the story, that I now had more interest in than in their offer.

"Yes, of course." He says, his head bowing a few inches in respect. "During that battle it soon became obvious to myself, and several students that had remembered their scouters from class, that you had grown well beyond the power of any of your so-called peers."

This announcement did little to hide the slight smirk on my face.

"While I watched the battle rage, I became slightly apprehensive about your return to regular classes and battling schedules." Mr. Jorn pauses in a moment of admiration. "The fact that you were so much more powerful than any other student here worried me about how you would fit in after the ordeal."

"Provided I survived." I corrected him.

"Oh no, Master Essam did a very thorough job of assuring us of your victory." Mrs. Jun'ko speaks up again, her voice sounding as if she were very sick of hearing about my alleged abilities.

"You were here too?" I asked.

Hisa Jun'ko just shrugged, "I had to catch up some extra work."

"Continue," I asked.

"And once again, Master Essam provided the perfect solution." Mr. Jorn smiled widely.

"You're too good at what you do Master Essam," I smirked turning away from Mr. Jorn to face Master Essam.

"I wouldn't say perfect, but it does have its merits. How would you feel if I were to appoint you as the guardian of this school?" Master Essam asked. "It won't be an easy job, and you'll face nearly insurmountable obstacles as well as endangering your life every time we fall under possible siege."

"Like what happened even though I wasn't a guardian?" I smirked.

"Point well taken," Mr. Jorn laughs appreciatively.

"I take it that you're saying yes then?" Mrs. Jun'ko raises an eyebrow.

"Take it, that I can't say no," I correct her. "But I don't think I can do this alone."

"Well," Master Essam smirks knowingly. "If you can find someone willing to risk their life with, and probably for, you. Then I'm very willing to let them."

"I think I have someone in mind."

As I sat outside on the edge of the half-broken fountain my mind was recapping my recent failures to find a partner guardian. I smirked a bit, the very term of guardian made me feel weird, like I was some kind of God watching over his realm. Well, this realm was too big for me, and apparently the few others that I would trust this job too. The first person I had gone to was the most obvious choice: Abrihet. She had said it herself, that she would bleed for me without a second thought. The sentiment had touched me deeper than I admitted to her, and I'd unfortunately taken it to heart a little more selfishly than I should have. When I asked Abrihet to give it all up and help me protect the school, she'd declined very gracefully telling me her duty was to the team. _I'm not the only person she should have to bleed for…_Next I had gone to my mentor, Janiko and he'd expressed an intense desire to help me, but he too had a duty to the team. In general he organized fights, trainings, and scheduling for the team in general. But his main concern was helping take the proverbial load off of Abrihet's shoulders so that she wouldn't collapse from all the pressure. I think they both were surprised I hadn't asked Edana to help me first, but something inside me said that it wouldn't be a good idea. To put her in that kind of danger was something I couldn't bring myself to do. Ignoring the sparkle of questioning in the back of my head, I thought to my next 2 teammates. I hadn't asked Samantha because she wasn't skilled enough to handle the kind of battling I was likely to get into, and Chafulumisa, in addition to wanting to stay by Sam's side, wouldn't want to give up his free-time for training and fighting. Not that he was selfish, as many consider him to be, but because he feels that he can be better, and working hard to become his best. That kind of drive is something that I not only respected, but encouraged and supported. And thus, I leaned back sighing heavily, it seemed as if it was truly going to be me against the world.

"No matter," I muttered to myself. "If a planet destroying being fears the legend that's reincarnated in me, I doubt I'll be overcome by anyone on this planet."

"Who's a planet destroying being?"

I leap to my feet and spin to face the soft voice that had materialized behind me. I find myself looking into the soft eyes of a caramel skinned beauty with silver hair.

"Kami Ayana!" I breathed out a breath of relief, uncurling my fists. "I was a mere thought away from blasting you."

"I thought we went over that little battle?" she walks around the fountain and sits where I had been only seconds ago.

"Much to the dismay of Master Essam," I returned fire arrogantly.

"So who's this being that destroys planets?" She uncharacteristically changed the subject.

"His name is Frieza, and he's a changeling with unspeakable power." I muttered the fraction of the story that I knew.

"Well I doubt that very seriously." She leans back, her hair swaying with the movement, nearly hypnotizing me.

"I never took you for someone to put a lot of faith in anything."

"Besides myself," she corrected.

"And why do you doubt Frieza's ability to destroy planets?"

"I don't," she corrected me again, and stood up. The motion brought her nearly within an arms length of my chest. "I doubt that his power is unspeakable. I'm pretty sure that even you could destroy a planet if you tried hard enough."

"And you continue to catch me off guard," I turn back around, not trusting my eyes to remain honest while she approached me in as inconspicuous manner as I'd have believed possible. _Am I being seduced?_

"The key to a well-fought battle." Her wide smile is almost audible; despite the fact my back is to her.

"Why are you here?" I ask her.

"You look liked you needed some help," Ayana began. "Which surprised me to say the least. Hast thou team forsaken thee?"

"Hast thou lost her mind?" I grin, in spite of what she was pushing at. "Stop playing with me and spell it out."

She grabs my shoulder and gently turns me around, and I realize just how close she had gotten to me. I could smell a sweet scent wafting off of her body, and I nearly commented on it in an inappropriate manner.

"Jimiyu's disappeared." She began, her voice cracking a bit. I rolled my eyes and balled my fists at the mention of his name. "After you killed his only friends, the sorrow drove him over the edge and I don't know what happened. He might've killed himself, someone else might have killed him, or he could be somewhere letting his pain out in whatever way he knows best."

"Are you here for an apology?" I ask.

"No," She corrected me. "Tell me something, why did you lose it when Dabir attacked me?"

"For the same reason you jumped in front of that gun for me."

"Really, it was nothing," she shrugs, even though I could see the horror of the memory creep into her eyes.

"Ayana, I've had my ki drained more than once in less than a week." I placed my hands on her shoulders, barely restraining the other action my brain was still trying to encourage. "I know that it wasn't easy."

"Somebody had to do it."

"I told you, stop playing with me." I float into the air and begin to make my way towards the dormitory.

"I know what Master Essam asked of you," her voice would have escaped detection from anyone else's ears.

Stopping I turn back and land in front of her.

"What?" my eyes narrow.

"Master Essam told me about your mission, and I'm not so sure you can handle it alone." Ayana finally said, after a moment of hesitation.

"I told her the same thing." I agree.

"Well I think I could help you," Ayana says in a measured voice.

"You know someone?" I dodge, putting on a mock hopeful voice.

"Well, I'd be willing to put my life on the line with you, no matter what comes our way…" Ayana began but I interrupted her.

"Hang on, we're not getting married," I laugh.

"But I'm not sure," she continues undaunted. "If you're ready for what it'll truly take."

"And you have a test that's better than Dabir, Kale, and Kala?" I raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"In fact I do," she took an aggressive step towards me, and her body was now pressed up against mine. My eyes register mild surprise and a longing pleasure that jolted my mind back to Edana and my commitment to her. "Kiss me."


End file.
